


Red Ivy

by Sadie (Jokie155)



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman - Fandom
Genre: Angst and Tragedy, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Physical Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-17 04:00:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 32,623
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29586903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jokie155/pseuds/Sadie
Summary: Returning to Gotham after a year away, Poison Ivy becomes the focal point for events that wrack the city to its core. Following a traumatic showdown, she wakes after months in a coma to a city she no longer recognizes, and a friend dangling on the last end of her own sanity. With Bruce Wayne left as the only person left she can trust, she has to face her past as an eco-terrorist supervillain, and contemplate her future as a potential eco-hero.Not tied to any specific continuity or canon, more drawing from desired elements and angles for both the character and setting.
Relationships: Pamela Isley & Bruce Wayne
Kudos: 2





	1. In Full Bloom

“Hey! Screw you too buddy!”

Gunfire from Harley’s rifle was far more biting than her rather weak attempt at a comeback to being flipped off. A sadistic glee was across her painted face as she heard her target cry out in anguish at taking several bracing wounds where his leg wasn’t quite in cover. In her eyes, fair retribution for him deciding to flip her off in the middle of a shootout.

The trail of bullet impacts and sparks along the walkway drew closer to the next trio of goons as they moved towards firing positions. Rather than moving down for cover, she was going full ham into the spray from her thrill in maiming the first. Completely ignoring the return fire about to ensue, or the ammo count of her own weapon.

At least until Poison Ivy bolted past and grabbed her wrist without pause.

With more gunfire sending hot shards in their direction, both women charged right for the brief safety provided by an office room in the middle of the factory floor. It stretched above and overhead towards the rest of the administration, forming an open tunnel that would still leave them exposed once the gunmen moved around.

Still quick on planning, Ivy hurled out a pair of smoke grenades in either direction, buying them a bit more time before the blind gunfire would commence.

“Harl, one of these days-!”

“Yeah yeah! Can’t have fun on the job anymore!”

Ivy rolled her eyes, and was prevented from continuing her scolding by the expected-yet-early blind gunfire into the smoke.

“Shit!”

It was coming from both sides simultaneously, forcing them further against the wall. Heated shards of concrete sprayed up at their legs, barraging them with the reminder that the next sound had the potential to be the one that maimed them.

“This is not how it was supposed to go!”

“Don’t have to tell me twice, Red! Boost me up!”

Harley was already reaching up towards an access panel in the office floor above them, using her rifle to try and knock it out of place.

Ivy went down to seek out any plant matter in the vicinity on an impulse, swearing again under her breath at the futility of that, and consequently her own stupidity. With the smoke already starting to clear out, and the gunfire drawing closer, she knelt down to grab around Harley’s knees and lift her up that way.

She heard the thump of Harley’s head hitting the ceiling above, wincing more on top of the stinging cuts crossed around her shins.

“I’m not apologizing! Get that damn thing open!”

Through more swearing, Harley managed to elbow the panel out of its socket, then used that momentum to get a solid anchor on the floor above to pull herself up. Within seconds, she was twisting back around to reach down and pull Ivy up as well.

Those last few seconds were hellish for Ivy. She could feel the rush of air past her legs and lower back from the gunfire as it closed in through the fading smoke. Her decision to go with soft shoes for the factory job was now biting back as her feet failed to find a grip on the wall in the scramble to climb.

“One word about weight and I-!”

That time, being cut off mid sentence came as the result of a bullet grazing over her shoulder, singing the skin as well as her loose shirt, drawing blood shortly after. It was sheer fortune that kept her from falling at that moment, Harley’s desperate grip on her wrists notwithstanding.

Survival desperation finally pushed her to throw herself upward as much as possible. A second bullet skimmed close enough to graze the skin of her leg, leaving a searing pain in its wake.

By the time she got up to clambering onto the floor, the spray of glass had already started. Stray shots aimed at the thin walls were shattering the viewing windows over them, lining the cheap carpet with a vicious sharp mess. Crawling to avoid the gunfire would cut their limbs up, and sprinting had a greater risk of slipping, with an even worse consequence.

“Ideas, Harl?”

“What’re you asking me for!? Run!”

Throwing caution aside in the face of imminent demise, Ivy threw her weight forward into a bolt for the admin section right behind Harley. For those few seconds it took to cross the carpeted area to the open gangway, she was chilled by the fear of one simple misstep sending her crashing back to the glassed floor, or the metal grating outside. Both were equally gruelling.

As soon as she reached the threshold of the admin rooms, she dived down to the floor. Harley had done the same, leaving her right in Ivy’s landing zone, much to the annoyance of both.

The continued gunfire drowned out the brief squabbling as they got back up to a crawl, bearing more cuts and minor wounds for the ordeal. But, they were still alive.

“If this goes on much longer,  _ he’s _ going to show up, you know.”

“Yeah yeah. Then we get a broken nose and rib between us instead of our brains splattered over that wall! What’d you expect me to do about it huh?”

They had moved over to more secure cover by then. Out of sight from the windows and the upper doorway, with room to move if anyone came through the second door they were facing. A minor reprieve, but certainly a step up from the dismal cover of smoke and little else.

Having time to breathe only brought Ivy’s attention back to the wound in her shoulder. It had started to coagulate, but still hurt enough to keep her distracted from a deeper call to the plant life outside. No rescues from her avenue of talent just yet.

“Harl, you think they’ll back off if we-”

“Forget it, Red. We ain’t giving them back the goods. And they ain’t smart enough to figure pissing off the big J isn’t in their best interests.” To punctuate her point, Harley finally got around to loading the remaining drum mag into her rifle.

Ivy rolled her eyes while carefully peering above the cubicle wall. “Have we tried telling them that? Or maybe the fact that what we stole isn’t even worth much and definitely isn’t worth dying to get back?”

She was yanked back down by Harley, who had gone into an absolute fit within seconds.

“What? Since when are diamonds worthless Red!?”

The resumption of gunfire put Harley’s focus back onto readying her weapon. Ivy rolled her eyes again, though that time with a streak of gratitude that she had been pulled out of the line of fire.

“They’ve got us pinned and outnumbered, and they’re still trying to kill us! What did you do to piss them off?”

“Whad’ya mean ‘what’d I do?’ They’re brainless thugs that you pay to pull a trigger! It ain’t my fault they got no tactics!”

“Okay fine! Give me time to crash a vine through several concrete walls and-”

A crossfire began outside the admin area. The new spray of bullets carried a much more familiar sound to it, and under those circumstances it was relieving in its own twisted way.

Harley leapt up onto the table of that particular cubicle to join in, blasting down towards where their assailants had lined up on the gangway. With gunfire from two directions, there was no hiding from their bullet-riddled fate.

Ivy stayed in her huddled position on the grimy carpet. Her ears were ringing now that the constant blare had ended. Once again, the sharp pain from both wounds was coming back to the forefront, aggravated by their frantic attempt to escape.

With the immediate danger gone, she decided to take that moment to sit and recover her senses. Other parties would show up before long, but for those quiet seconds she stopped thinking about that.

“Hey, Red, you feelin’ ok?”

She looked up to Harley, who was now standing over her, reaching a hand out while the other kept the rifle slung across her shoulders.

It was a sight that made Ivy smile a little, and work up the will to take that offered hand and pull herself off the floor.

“Yeah. I think I am.”

*

The duffel bag landed on the desk with a crunching thud. Not bothering to ask, Ivy reached over and unzipped the top, letting some of the diamonds within spill out onto the writing pad.

“Several kilos of industrial diamonds. Acquired illegally, very blatantly attributed to myself and Harley, and mostly intact. What’s this about?”

“Oh Ivy…”   


The chair twisted around slowly to the maniacal grin of the Joker. Taut wider than usual, he didn’t even glance twice at the display of diamonds, eyes locked right onto Ivy’s own.

“Still having trouble with the hearing? Or is it the understanding part that’s got your gab in a knot, hm?”

He leaned forward in his chair, the smile leaving his face in a sickening motion. The flesh itself was quite possibly incapable of doing so normally anymore.

“Leave the questions to whom it concerns. That would be the thinkers, not those on retainer. You’re here to keep Harley from getting underfoot, remember?”

The smile returned as the Joker leaned back to give a loud snap of his fingers. On command, the pair of guards at the doorway opened it to Harley. She took a few moments to notice before bounding over with a gleeful smile.

Ivy went silent as she moved aside, glaring at anything but the smug grin taunting her, or Harley herself. That was an absolute mess she didn’t want to spark off in the Joker’s office of all places.

Harley was on the verge of cartwheeling her way over to the table, settling instead for a front flip with a very flaired landing.

“Whad’ya tell you, Mr J? Nothing the two of us ain’t able to pull off.”

“Yes, excellent excellent!” Back to his full character, the Joker began spreading the spilled pile of diamonds across the writing pad, picked up a few, and then promptly tossed them over his shoulder. Each time, he muttered a few generic remarks about inadequacy, all while deliberately ignoring Harley’s squeals of confusion and protest.

Eventually he stopped the casual tossing, picking out an entirely arbitrary diamond to hold up between himself and Harley. In that form, far from the beautifully crafted tesselated shape of gemstone diamonds, it was more of a crudely brushed rectangle, like any number of chocolates as if formed from glass.

“You’ve proven my point expertly, Harley! Yes, this will be my most fantastic caper yet!”

To further taunt her completely missing the point, he reached his arm back, then flicked forward to shoot the chunk of diamond clear across the room. It shattered against the wall opposite his desk, leaving a glittering pile of dust on the floor.

“Hard, but brittle. Just like Malcom over there’s ex-wife!”

One of the guards at the door shifted uncomfortably at being called out like that. More often than not, being directly addressed by the Joker was the prelude to a grisly death.

That time was a shocking case of the latter, the Joker going right back to his bit about the diamonds in question.

“You’re supposed to be smart under all that squeaking, Harley dear. Why don’t you take a crack at figuring out why you stole an entire bag’s worth of industrial diamonds, instead of a bag’s worth of diamond-encrusted jewellery, hm?”

“The slush fund is looking great, so I already knew it wasn’t for straight cash.” She hesitantly reached over towards the diamond pile, half expecting her hand to be slapped away. When it wasn’t, she picked up a chunk of her own to look over. “Isn’t it slower to make our own fake jewellery laced with explosives than to do it to already made stuff?”

“Explosive jewellery. That’s actually not a bad idea. But not what I’ve got in mind.”

“Then I got nothing. Red said something about these diamonds not being very valuable, but she’s the one with a doctorate in chemistry.”

“Just the one in biology, Harl.” Still trying not to give the Joker any kind of satisfaction in pushing her around, Ivy was careful in her return to the desk. All the while, her eyes remained clear of both, focusing on the array instead.

“These might as well be slightly overpriced chunks of glass. Probably not worth much more than the crap they paid the people who mined these in blood diamond territory, if they got paid at all. They stick junk like this on drills, grind it into powder, whatever.”

The Joker snickered at that. “I heard they even use them to power lasers! You’d know something about that, right Ivy?”

She couldn’t contain herself from giving a very dismal glare in return, though the reason for it escaped her. It came more from a distinct feeling of revulsion, of being reminded of something best forgotten.

“Fact is, we nearly got shot stealing a bag of ugly glass pebbles. They won’t even pass as imitation jewellery. So, in short no idea what they’re for either.”

“Bah. Leave it to women to miss the bleeding obvious. You don’t even realize you’ve already explained the answer!”

Ivy tightened down her glare again. Snarking back at the Joker was a dangerous line to walk, much as she wanted to.

“Fine. Why don’t you do us the courtesy of explaining it your way, Joker.”

The Joker leaned back into his chair with a great beam of smugness. The thrill of being asked to explain more of his brilliance. Straightforward, but so deeply satisfying.

“You were right on the money, in that there’s no money to be made from this heist! But, we all know what the sensationalist media are like! The headlines will read ‘Harley and Ivy make off with loads of diamonds!’, no-one will care about reading down where they mention that they’re worthless, and big ol’ Bats will be scratching those ears of his trying to figure the whole thing out! Cause a big stir, everyone looks the other way, and that’s when I hit them with the real thing!”

“Yay!” Harley flung herself onto the edge of the table in sheer excitement, holding her pose for several seconds before coming down to the obvious question. “The real thing being…?”

“Ah, tut tut sugarplum. This one’s a real doozy, absolutely top secret. There’s only one other I’ll need for preparing this caper. You’ll be right beside me when it sets off instead.”

The expected pout followed from Harley. For once, rather than bounding right into a whole slew of complaining about being left out and the like, she shrugged it off on the spot. “Alright. So long as I ain’t there to be the fall girl patsy, I’ll let this one be a surprise. Like you say.”

“That’s a good girl, Harley. Now run along, Ivy will be along to play in a little while.”

Ivy watched Harley bound out of the room in complete silence. The implication that she’d be staying longer all but confirmed she was also the one to be helping the real plan. Which in turn meant it would involve plants. And given they were at the end of January, the rest of the pieces, diamonds included, fell into place.

“You’re going to hit the Valentine’s Day parade. Diamonds and roses.”

“Two of a girl’s best friends. Well, the latter in your case anyway.” The Joker gave a quick tilt of his head after that. “Perhaps I was a little harsh earlier, hm? You put that together nicely, with a only a hint more information. You’re not planning on running off to Riddler, I hope?”

Once again, Ivy rolled her eyes, and in the moment wasn’t careful about running her mouth. “I’d laugh, because that’s a good joke, but I’m not in the mood.”

That wiped the Joker’s smile faster than before. The sinister manner in which he leaned forward again, conveying his threatening mood so clearly, made Ivy step back a bit.

“I don’t appreciate remarks of that kind. Either a joke is worth laughing at, or you let it pass without comment. The only in-between is if I ask for feedback. And believe me, that doesn’t happen often.”

His face settled back to a more neutral expression once the threat had been made clear. His own mood had shifted away from humour for the moment.

After reasserting herself, Ivy bit down twice on her distaste for the Joker to put her focus on the task itself. Getting it done as soon as possible would get her out of his crosshairs for a short while at least. That much she could work with.

“Well, since roses are a given for Valentine’s Day, there also has to be something funny in a twisted morbid way that makes you want to go that route. Giant roses with thorns that impale people, or the flowers themselves go around eating them…” She splayed out her fingers when she came to a loss for ideas. “What’s the punchline that makes this a trademark ‘Joker’ attack?”

And still, she let one more barb slip past. Possibly one too many. “Or are you going to tell me to shut my woman mouth and do as you say yet again?”

“You know, I’m getting a lot of mixed signals from you, Ivy. Half the time, you’re right on the ball. The other half…” The Joker got to his feet slowly, opening the top drawer where he kept one of many loaded guns. “You’re forgetting your place. And that’s, not, funny.”

Knowing exactly what was in the drawer, Ivy took those remaining seconds to think. She felt more in danger than when there were bullets grazing her skin, knowing any one of them could be it. And she had used up all her chances and slip-ups.

Biting down her tongue and pride, she closed her eyes for a deep breath.

“Fine. Tell me what you want, where you want it, when you want it. No questions asked. No complaints about what you do with those flowers. None of my usual environmental-cause shitting around you make fun of anyway.”

The staredown was tense for Ivy. A silent plea for her own life, demeaning as it was to back down from a man she despised.

For the Joker, it was informative. A chance to gauge her resilience, her gall, and her determination. In the end, it was entertaining.

He broke the stare with a sinister chuckle, closing the drawer as he sat back down.

“Details, details! I’ll send you a full breakdown of what I require by tomorrow. Email, text. I’d say fax, but then you’d probably start sobbing about it being printed using non-recycled paper.” His grin began to return. “Maybe I will anyway! Be sure to record your breakdown for some bonus points! And I might even forget your flagrant disregard for the power structure I have going here to boot!”

After one last laugh, he motioned his hand towards the door in a dismissive way. “You can go now. Have Harley back before bedtime.”

The feeling of being small, and especially defeated left Ivy without the will to try biting back any longer. Clutching at her sore arm, she turned away to leave. No attempts at getting in the last word. No snarky remarks about the garish theme of his office.

As soon as she got outside the office, and heard the door close behind her, she went for the nearest wall pressed against it. Her head craned upward, eyes bleary as she looked to the rotting warehouse ceiling. It was somehow even more dismal than it had been when she left well over a year earlier.

“Hey Red! How’d it go with Mr J?”

“Ask me that again, Harl, and I cannot guarantee I won’t flip you off and go to my happy place without you.”

A few blinks from Harley followed. And then a few more. A bit of thinking prompted her to reach down for Ivy’s hand and lift it playfully.

“Not good, huh? Sounds like I’m treating you to dinner then, huh?”

“Harl, we stole thousands of industrial diamonds not even an hour ago. It’ll be all over social media by now. That’s literally what Joker was counting on with this plan to begin with! We can’t go out in public for at least two days until everyone finds some other stupid crime to be all obsessed over.”

“Yeah, for two days we’re actually relevant again! This is exactly when we should go out and have dinner like two good friends who don’t give a fuck about the cops or anybody else! Whad’ya say?”

*

The rain outside seemed to exemplify Ivy’s current mood.

Both she were Harley were sitting in a mostly populated restaurant, at a table right next to a very large window across the sidewalk and street beyond. Plenty of people, both inside and out, knew they were there. She had even overheard a few particular relevant words in exchange.

But beyond that, no-one seemed to care enough to do anything about their presence, so far anyway.

From her seat, she had a constant view of Harley as she went to order for them both. She was barely paying actual attention though, her thoughts too fixated on concerns, and the lack of concern fighting it out in her head.

She didn’t really want to be there, amongst so many people, going on with their lives in ignorance. She didn’t want to be in a situation where the hassle would be awkward or unwelcome. In something of a twisted way, the inevitable interruption to the evening she wanted was something more akin to a police raid, or even a more low-tier arrest attempt. Something that would give her an easy excuse to fight back. To not have to interact with ordinary people.

A couple years in the Amazon had driven her from enjoying the luxurious life of an upper class supervillain, to a low-tier introverted tag-along. Even her activist activities had been at a minimum since coming back. And it was more irritable than infuriating that of all the people who apparently wasn’t noticing enough of her silent distress, it was her best friend.

The qualified psychologist in red-black leather and dyed pigtails.

By then, Harley was bringing over their tray of food without even a hint of blood on her white shirt. That was the most impressive feat of the night so far.

“No issues, Harl?”

“Eh, had enough violence today. Besides, poor kid looks like they had enough of a night anyway. Buncha ‘phobic jerks, telling you.”

Ivy rolled her eyes, barely even touching the burger wrapping before her.

“Okay, now I know there’s something goin’ on, Red. Prime chance to crack about how much you hate anyone who isn’t me, and that’s the best you got?”

“I don’t have a problem with non-binaries, Harl. Loathing for all of humanity isn’t specific like that.”

“Not who I meant, but whatever.” Harley dived right into her stack of waffles following that. It of course didn’t stop her from continuing her attempt to be investigative. “So, I get you’re still not fond of Mr J. You bothered he wants your help, or somethin’ else?”

“Well, since you brought up hateful opinions based on social norms…” After how many times her verbal barbs had come back worse on her, she felt ill for that latest one. Her arms folded up on the table, head landing on top of both shortly after with an exhausted sigh. Having her hair tied back in a messy bun kept it from splaying all over the unwrapped vegan burger.

“What am I doing here, Harley?”

The ditzy demeanour sapped away from Harley. She slid the waffles aside to reach across the table, trying to get Ivy to lift her head back up.

“You haven’t told me, Red. You been back barely two weeks and ain’t said a thing.” She pursed her lips after that. “I mean, they didn’t say much on the news. A bit about how you were causing trouble for loggers in the Amazon, then nothing for a few months, and then you came back. Can’t tell you what’s wrong if I got nothing to go on.”

It took longer for Ivy to pull her head off the table. She still had to prop it up with her hand, looking even more dismal than before.

“They got fed up with me prompting hordes of killer ants to go eat all the logging crew.”

“Like that one film we watched sometime,  _ Marabunta _ was it?”

Ivy shrugged, barely remembering what was left of a mediocre experience. “They said they’d start blasting the entire forest with pesticide if I kept going. Millions of insect species wiped out, a lot of other animals and plants sick and dead from all the chemicals.”

Harley’s face sank. While she wasn’t particularly phased by the devastation described, Ivy’s own distraught at it brought out the sympathy in spades.

“So, you gave up?”

Ivy pulled her lips in while her eyes started to glaze, looking around idly. “I, gave up. I could’ve pushed harder, become more destructive. But, they might have started firebombing anything I threw at them. And I’d be seen as the one at fault when they pulled in the heavy support. The Justice League only protect the planet when it’s not lower class workers and businessmen that are the threat.”

“Yeah, that sounds ‘bout right. ‘The American way’ means you don’t invade a country ‘less there’s a big buck to be made. Getting oil makes money, sizing down the wood industry loses money. Besides, this ain’t Supes’ planet, why would he care? And the rest follow along.”

“This is all reinforcing why I hate humanity.”

Even when saying that, in the face of such bitter pessimism, she found herself smiling slightly. Enough to lift her head a little more.

“Except for you, Harl.”

“Aw, I don’t hate you too, Red.”

“And now it’s awkward. But again, who cares?” Riding on the moment of apathy mixed with positivity, her appetite returned long enough for her to cast her eyes downwards yet again.

The vegan burger, filled with meat substitutes and the like. The final, definitive answer to what exactly she considered a suitable diet given her campaign of plant freedom in the past. An end to the dangers of overfarming animals, far more important than parading the absurd notion that the plants themselves had rights that needed to be protected.

Her appetite began to subside again. For the cause, for the planet, and for setting an example, none of it was quite enough to make her get over the dissatisfaction she felt the moment she took a bite.

“I leave for an entire year and they somehow make these things taste more bland. I’d be more willing to not send killer ants to eat people alive if they’d actually bother to make a fucking halfway decent veg burger.”

Harley flicked a mayo sachet across the table to her with a casual hum. “Figured you didn’t wanna wait around for fancy dresses and whatnot. We can find somethin’ better if you want.”

Ivy shook her head in the middle of emptying the mayonnaise onto the burger, rendering it distinctly not-vegan, and then followed it up with a helping of pepper. It wasn’t much, but it did make some headway into making the whole thing easier to get through.

“Where? I mean, look at me. I’m in a shirt and ripped shorts because I don’t have much else. I’m basically crashing with a friend and her shitty partner when I’m not freeloading at the arboretum. And there’s no way I’m ever crawling back to Wayne, so where do I even start on getting back to high class meals and actual lab equipment to plan my next ‘save the planet, fuck humanity’ thing when he’s got his back turned?”

She winced right after that, even before seeing Harley’s hurt expression. “I’m sorry. No complaining about Joker, that was the promise.”

“Hey, you don’t like him, big deal. S’long as it don’t get to be a problem. And at least you not bottling all this up. It’s one thing to keep going on about how much you hate humanity. Personal stuff, well, that’s different.”

“If you’re about to pull a Wiseau and start dissecting my sex life, I’m cutting that off too. For the record, I’m well past the seductress schtick.”

“Was gonna say it sounds like you either need a new partner. Maybe more of a big display of environmental revenge to get back into the good vibes. Somethin’ to make you feel like the Poison Ivy people are afraid of again, the one that makes them scared enough to not be so lazy and actually clean up after themselves.”

Ivy went quiet at that point. Bringing up Valentine’s Day at all was going to put her in the Joker’s bad books when Harley inevitably told him. More than that, her disheartening failure in the Amazon had sucked away a lot of the determination. That harsh slap in the face about the futility of her one woman war on ecological destruction.

She couldn’t keep the silence for too long. The slow drop of her mood back towards melancholy was giving plenty away.

“Right now, I don’t have any ideas, and quite frankly I don’t think I even want to. Like I said, I’m a crasher doing what I can to get by. No-one’s going to behave more environmentally friendly if all I do is make some vines grow and smash up a few buildings. That’s just pointless chaos.”

“I happen to like indulging in pointless chaos. You’ve always got me for a crime partner, remember?”

A faint tinge crossed Ivy’s cheeks. She tried pushing that aside to get back at finishing the burger.

“I saw that, Red. Flattering, but we both agreed it wasn’t gonna work out, remember?”

Much as Ivy tried, she couldn’t hide behind what remained of the sesame seed bun.

“I know. And I’m not chasing it.” Her hands went down to put her face in clear view. “Nor am I talking about this any longer. What I am doing is trying not to ruin an attempt to cheer me up by someone who cares. Thanks Harl.”

“We all got our bad breaks and down phases. You’ll be back on your plant crusade before you know it, I’m telling you.”

While it seemed distant at the moment, the notion of actually enjoying mayhem for the cause again made Ivy smile.

If she wanted quiet, she could have gone deeper into the Amazon, and tried her best to shut out what was happening further out as she solidified a new safe haven. Coming back to Gotham had been out of feeling aimless. And while troubled, it hadn’t left her regretting the decision to return quite yet.

*

Rain had soaked through the entirety of her hair and clothes by the time she reached the parade plaza. Right between the fountain and the indoor arboretum, she had the ideal view of the comforting glow it gave out in the late evening drizzle.

An island of green in the concrete and paved stone. Her own personal beacon in the night, the ‘happy place’ as she had named it.

No warnings or sudden appearances of individuals looking to arrest her as she approached the dimmed lighting. She even made a point of approaching the front door deliberately in view of one of the cameras. They all faced outward, and whether that was because of the simple fact that foliage was too difficult to place around, or some foresight from Bruce Wayne on her behalf she didn’t care to ask about.

It was the eleventh night she had come to the arboretum without issue. There was definitely an unspoken truce of some kind in place. And for her, having one single location of solace was worth upholding her end of the truce.

The latter of the two felt a little stronger when the doors opened to her automatically. For the previous ten nights, it had been as simple as calling over a waiting palm frond to open it from within. The palm itself was further away from the door, but it was also apparently no longer necessary.

She looked up to the doorway camera with a raised eyebrow, then smirked to it. After a night of choice words had put her in a bad position, she opted for silent gratitude and made her way inside.

Even with the relative privacy offered to her own little domain, the only thing that came loose was her tightly wrapped mess of hair. A cascade of red down her back, and across her shoulders as she shook it free. It was in a far better state than it had been during her year long sabbatical, but the return to civilization had left her with the renewed need to keep working it back to its ideal state, one day at a time.

Stepping through into the main walkaround brought the plantlife into full activity. Many of the closed flowers, branches and stems curved towards Ivy as she approached. Each graced by a light touch of her fingers when she walked by. Some delved into her hair, momentary grasps to dig out tangles and the like without breaking her stride.

Once she had passed, each of the plants returned to their restful state. Stray hairs were drawn in out of sight to ensure no trace of her was left open to theft. Flowers that had briefly bloomed to greet her retreated back into the safety of their leafy shells.

The greatest movement came from the oak tree that dominated the middle of the arboretum. A low groan of twisting wood, roots pulled aside, an aging trunk twisting open to reveal the tunnel held safe below. All concealed from outside view by a strategic arrangement of broad plants and the like.

Ivy’s descent into the sloped tunnel drew her closer to the earth below the concrete and stone on the surface. Past the plumbing and electricals, her true safe space where sunlight didn’t need to shine.

Bathed in a soft green light from the glowing roots, a much more palatable aura to cover the red light that would renew both herself and the plants that lined her sanctum.

It was borderline cliche for her reputation, but on the other hand she had done her utmost to keep it out of sight from everyone else on the planet. Even Harley had not seen it, for a multitude of reasons that had always been kept to herself.

She slid onto the arrangement of giant leaves gently. Never treating the plants gracious enough to provide her rest with contempt or disregard.

However much the world above troubled her, she had one place in which she could hide away from it all. A few restful hours was something she appreciated greatly.


	2. Thorns Aren't The Danger

“Mind if I join you? ****

Ivy didn’t need to open her eyes to know who had asked. It was early morning in Gotham Park, several blocks away from the arboretum. While open to the public, that particular area of the park wasn’t often frequented. The bench was left comfortably open for her to enjoy the warm sunlight in comfort without interruption until that moment. ****

“Do I get to say yes?” ****

“I wouldn’t have asked if I was going to sit down regardless. It’s your choice, Pamela.” ****

She opened her eyes with a degree of contempt, letting them adjust as she tilted her head forward to look Bruce Wayne square on. The sharp suit said it all, he had come to see her as a deliberate choice. No pretence of happening to notice her on a morning jog or anything of the sort. ****

The previous night had given her a lot to think about. Questions she had pushed aside brought to the forefront for her to consider and answer. Some of those answers involved Bruce. And now, she felt as if he was either knowingly or unknowingly sparing her some of the embarrassment of ‘crawling back to him’ as she had put it herself. ****

“Are there GCPD officers watching me right about now? Ready to hit me with darts laced to knock out the chlorokinesis? You’ve told them not to bother with tranquilizers by now surely.” ****

Bruce took a long look around the park, lightly tapping the held newspaper into his hand as he did so. “None that I can see. No tails from WayneTech security either, people or electronic.” ****

The reluctance ran deep for Ivy. She didn’t want to have the conversation ahead. But after the extended display of reasonability and consideration, any kind of talk with Bruce Wayne was leagues ahead with whatever would happen in her next meeting with the Joker. ****

“Fine. Though if it’s to tell me to clear out of the arboretum, get it over with so I can start thinking of somewhere else to sulk.” ****

With a raised eyebrow, Bruce moved to sit down with a thoughtful hum. “See, now I’m actually concerned. Of all the words I’d use to describe you, Pamela, territorial used to be right up there.” ****

“You can start correcting that by not calling me Pamela. Or Pam.” ****

“Alright. Ivy it is, then.” Bruce kept a respectable distance when seated, positioned at the right angle to observe Ivy’s reactions without making it obvious. “For starters, I would’ve said yes to letting you stay at the arboretum. It’s maintained by the company for the city. I’m not unsympathetic if you’re willing to ask for help.” ****

Ivy scoffed with a lot of indignation. She had to turn her head to keep him from noticing the bleariness forming in her eyes in spite of that. “I don’t want a handout, Bruce! I don’t need your pity! Why are we even talking about this?” ****

Bruce moved his hand across the table towards her, not quite reaching for the shoulder yet. “We’ve known each other in the past. That incident with the diamonds wasn’t your idea. And from what’s been reported, I get the feeling you only did it to please Harley. I don’t believe you’re a bad person, Ivy.” ****

“Thirty four logging crew workers might disagree with you.” ****

That brought on a significant wince from Bruce. It was a large sticking point. That Ivy had brought it up herself hinted at more complex feelings however. ****

“We’re both trying to save the environment. I get that you feel I’m never doing enough by staying within the bounds of the law. And I’m not going to pretend that working with me will get you off the hook for those deaths, but it would definitely be a start towards-” ****

“Redemption? Atonement?” Ivy twisted back around to look Bruce square in the eyes. “I don’t regret it. I told Harley it was about them refusing to back down.” ****

A sick feeling immediately struck Bruce in the pit of his stomach. It was suddenly clear that he was in for more than he had expected. ****

Ivy swallowed painfully as she reached up to the collar of her shirt and pulled it aside. A number of vicious scars in her pale green skin were unveiled. After setting it back in place, she reached down to pull it up from her torso, revealing many more vertical scars in her stomach and midsection. ****

“Like I said, I don’t regret the killing. I just didn’t expect them to push back so hard that I had to walk away.” She noted the pained expression Bruce had, which only made her grimace at what was to come. “Don’t start with the pity, or empty apologies. I didn’t come back for you to feel sorry about what I’ve been through, or to excuse what I did. I let it get personal when they came after me. The cause was finished the moment that happened.” ****

“Then why did you come back? There are plenty of other places you could’ve gone if you wanted to continue the fight. Or if you wanted to give up altogether. Gotham puts you right back in the centre, between the Joker and Batman. Ivy, I’m trying to help because I care.” ****

“And maybe I don’t want you to care, Bruce. I smiled at the doors opening because I thought it was amusing at the time. That wasn’t gratitude. That wasn’t an invitation for you to swoop in and play the charismatic hero come the next day. Not again.” ****

Bruce reached for his eyes, pinching along them with a mildly exasperated sigh. He was doing his utmost to tread carefully around her, without being patronizing in the same stroke. “I’m not trying to be. I’m not going to lie, having a woman of your incredible talents on side would be great in a lot of ways. But right now, I’m trying to be a friend, nothing more or less. I respect that you have a lot to work out on your own terms, I won’t get in the way of that. I’m only offering a way to do it without hurting yourself or others.” ****

It made Ivy’s skin crawl. The niceness, the understanding. The sheer altruism on display. As if he had heard nothing of what she had said. Handwaving away all her guilt and terribleness as ‘something to work out’. She didn’t like the direction headed with the Joker, but the direction offered by Bruce felt as unappealing, if not moreso. ****

“No. When I get back on top, it will be alone. I don’t need any of your safe outlets, Bruce."

She got up, standing motionless in a few menacing seconds, then turned her head to him. “And stay away from Harley. I don’t need two men using her to manipulate me.” ****

She looked away again to hide the tightening of her lip, though her trembling fist was still in view. The offer of help had been scorning, and reminding herself of the situation she was already in merely salted that. ****

“You can’t protect her from her own obsession if I can’t. Don’t get involved, Bruce.” ****

Ivy walked away after that, still eyeing the treeline for any indication of ambush. Somehow, she had managed to get through the conversation calmly, and for once she needed that to continue. ****

* ****

A couple of hours later, she was walking into the long-abandoned greenhouse she had utilized only once. Right back in the early days, when she was far more naive, and lacked a true direction for her ecological cause to take. ****

The thought of seeing Jason Woodrue skulking around was the only thing that disgusted her more than the Joker’s incessant giggling. ****

“Perfect, isn’t it? Exactly how you left it! Grimy, rundown, and oh so rich with good soil! Aged like the wine they really dig their feet into!” ****

Ivy remained silent as she stepped forward into the midday light filtering through the dusty greenhouse glass. Cobwebs were everywhere, many of the trays were mouldy, and some had even fallen apart with age. A number of windows were broken as well, either from hurled rocks or stray bullets from gunfights in the area. ****

So very conspicuous, and certainly more of a convenience on the Joker’s part than a deliberate nostalgic favour to her. ****

“Alright. I need to know what you want from these roses, and how many to grow. Should they be about thorny tendrils lacerating people? Psychedelic pollen driving people to madness?” ****

“You’re on the right track, but, I’m thinking of something far more subtle. And entirely on theme.” ****

The Joker moved around to one side of the greenhouse, sliding right into his gleeful presentation. “You see, there’s always been a particular annoyance, an oversight that absolutely bugs me! Valentine’s Day is a shoddy cover for the capitalist agenda! An excuse to jack up prices for meaningless gestures! And I think you’ll agree, an absolutely pathetic waste of perfectly good roses."

The disgust returned for Ivy, now fixated on the fact that the Joker was making a point she already agreed with. That was likely the point.

“You’re right. I don’t like the excessive waste of flowers on empty gestures. I also don’t like that we’ll be using more roses in that same vein, unless the idea is to put an end to that?”

“Sure, sure. But, I’m still getting to the best part of this caper! The lynchpin that ties everything together! The punchline that I will deliver to all of Gotham!” He had to break from his speechifying to get through the cackle of laughter, grabbing at the table for support in his hysterics. When he came down from it, he grinned right back at Ivy. “Provided you can handle the setup.”

He stood back up to continue his methodical pacing right after that. “You see, there’s one thing above all else that really grinds my gears about that day. When you hear the word ‘massacre’, you expect hundreds, thousands of bodies! An absolute bloodbath! A cacophony of agony! A massacre on Valentine’s Day should be painting the city as red as it could ever possibly be!”

The brief elation turned to anger in that moment. The Joker slammed both his hands down harsly on an open table with enough force to make Ivy flinch.

“But no! They have the absolute audacity to give ‘Valentine’s Day Massacre’ to the execution of five thugs! Intolerable! Pathetic! A complete waste of a title that deserves so much more than something so petty and low brow! It’s the worst kind of joke! Ill thought out!!”

Ivy’s silence was less out of shock at the plan coming together. Internally, she was disappointed. Pointless killing was not her style, especially so on a large scale. With more and more of the true plan coming to light, it seemed to be exactly the path she was headed into. A city-wide attack with thousands dead, all to spite a historical event. Nothing even remotely in her line of goals. No real point to be made.

Pointing that out would do nothing. Antagonizing him would make things a lot worse for her. The only option at that moment was to comply, and make it as straightforward as possible.

“All the florists in the city will already be booked out. I don’t see a way of distributing the roses to that scale, not without drawing attention before they’re ready.”

The Joker lifted a finger to wave about lightly, as if about to tell her off for asking questions yet again. That time, he was in a better mood, more willing to provide given her polite tone. “Oh, I’ve given this some thought. Looked back on some old plans, ironed out the flaws, and crafted something bound to have everyone floored.”

He dived into one of the pockets of his waistcoat, drawing out a pile of mushy flowers, another deliberate choice on his part. That hand lifted up high to flick the pile out across the space between himself and Ivy, leaving the mess to flutter down in a shower of browning petals.

“What better way to attack the city parade with heartstopper roses than to shower them down in a declaration of love for my precious Harley? Maximum carnage, absolute chaos! Guaranteed to make her heart flutter, is it not?”

He started into another laughing fit, focusing right down on Ivy for his own verbal backhander. “Oh, but look who I’m asking. You’ve been trying to steal her away for years, and failed every time! Harley has good taste after all!”

The laughter died out when he saw Ivy’s scorned face, however much she was trying to hide it. “Aw, is being her playtime fling not enough for you? Here I thought you were a cold-blooded creature of the forest, more interested in grinding people down for fertilizer than trying to steal a man’s doll, hm?”

Ivy’s anger went down to her fist out of sight, drawing some of the weeds in the floor towards her. Some restrained breaths helped her push the urge to lash out away.

“We’re done with that. Harley and I both agree. Right now, I’m doing this for the money. Not her, and not you.” She momentarily closed her eyes for a longer calming breath. It made a great difference in keeping her composure steady. “You can take all the credit for the attack, leave me out of it even. Once I get paid, I’ll stay away from you both.”

“What an interesting time to renegotiate. But, since it’s to give me a clear win-win, I’ll be gracious, this time.”

It was barely enough for Ivy to keep her temper in check. Getting one hint of reasonability from the Joker was an incredible feat to achieve. Her smile was forced as she began moving over to the soil beds, but it didn’t need to be anything more than that.

“I can weave a mild neurotoxin into the petals. Create a particular chemical compound that causes detonation after a certain amount of time when exposed to the right gas, and then oxygen. Most will probably survive with brain damage. Some will inhale enough to die from it.” The fake smile faded with a tilt of her head. “Anything more volatile in a quantity sufficient to cover the parade is too dangerous. Entire trucks could go up in a chain reaction.”

“For once, Ivy, I can live with dialling it down a notch. Hilarious as explosive rose petals sound, I’m in quite the festive mood this year. A chorus of broken hearts will make this February 14th one to cherish for years to come! Have it ready by the 11th, and you’ll be smiling all the way to the bank! Assuming I don’t rob it first for kicks!”

The Joker took his leave after that, cackling well after stepping out of the greenhouse to the waiting car.

As soon as she heard it speed off, Ivy shattered her mask of calm and restraint.

Her fist slammed into the soil bed to her left, causing a rumble in the concrete below. It was the same with the second, accompanied by an anguished outburst. In the third, she was close to hysterics herself, that time out of sheer fury at having to bend to the Joker’s machinations.

The rumbling came to a head as a mass of plant vines erupted outside the greenhouse, snaking through the many holes and other decayed sections to seal them off. Defensive flowers bloomed shortly after, turning the small glass building into an island of nature amidst the brown and grey.

A few locks of hair had pulled loose in the midst of her outburst, dangling in front of her frantic eyes while she stared into nothingness. Nature was still at her command. She still had an incredible power she could put to use if so desired.

Her will was severely eroded, her determination broken. And now she was an open embarrassment to the Joker. Another tool for him to use. Doing things her way for her own reasons wasn’t even an option open to her any longer.

The rage subsided eventually, though her composure was still gone. Her left hand traced along the scars beneath her shirt, while her right dragged through the soil beds on the matching side.

A dusting of pollen drifted from the flowers above to the waiting beds. In the wake of her fingertips where the dusting had landed, rose bushes began to sprout. The basis for her greatest waste of potential yet. Done for purely petty reasons.

Exactly how Woodrue would have wanted it.

*

Further into that week, she was left with little to do while the rose bushes rested for the evening, well on their way to reaching full lethality. The Joker had his men preparing the distribution half already, preparing many lightweight drums with an extra coating to ensure that there would be no gas leaks until they deployed. Even a hint of oxygen getting in could turn a barrel into a killer bomb once the reaction began.

A large shower of red across the entire area, including her own favourite plaza leading to the arboretum. She might’ve watched the devastation unfold from there in the past, but her heart was no longer in it. Even days later, her inability to find motivation in her work persisted.

“Whatcha doing up here, Red?”

Rather than being annoyed at having her quiet contemplation interrupted, Ivy was actually glad for a bit of company at all up there. It wasn’t about testing how much Harley cared about her either.

“I told them what they need to do, no more than that. Joker and I are the only ones with the full plan, and he wants to keep it that way. No argument from me.” She leaned off the railing for a shrug, returning her chin to the top rung after. “So long as I’m up here, they won’t ask questions they don’t need to. And I’ve got nothing else to do right now.”

“Good, ‘cause I got you something that’s gonna cheer you right back up. If you’re up for a heist of course.”

“A heist? Harley…” Ivy was ready to dismiss it out of hand, until she saw that pleading face. “We got lucky that they didn’t come after us over the diamonds. It was a one-off over something not very valuable. But if we start something now, they’ll think it’s going to become a spree and there won’t be any fast food dinners in our future anymore. GCPD and Batman will chase us down.”

“Don’t worry, I’m countin’ on the former. As for the latter, I reckon we play our cards right and he’ll find better things to do. I got this figured out, Red.”

It still left Ivy uncertain. Even with their mutual enemies aside, there was still a third problem on her mind. “And what about Joker? He made a pretty big fuss about wanting attention on the diamonds, regardless of worth. We’re going to pull attention off them if we do anything other than lay low.”

“We’re not going after anything big or specific like that. The uptown bank’s holding a lot of bullion for some Ace Chemicals hotshots, and I know you hate their guts in particular. The gold’s probably laundered, and I bet it ain’t even covered by the bank’s insurance. We steal a bag each, you get a three-quarter cut as a forward on what you’re doing for Mr J, and a nice throwback to the good ol’ days in the process that gets you out of this depressive funk. The only people who lose are the fatcats, and any guards that get bonked by yours truly. Quick and messy, no blood on our hands, no Bat on our tails.”

The whole thing still sounded extremely dubious to Ivy, which was trademark for any of Harley’s home-cooked schemes that lacked the Joker’s curation. Going in with the intent of a much smaller take, and cleanly at that, were sensible points in the midst of the hair-brained nonsense.

“Alright, but it’s getting dark out as is. The bank won’t be open for too long, and I’ll need something to cover up with until I’m inside.”

“We can knock a shop or two over on the way, pick you up something decent that’ll do the trick. Sometimes, you just gotta be spontaneous about these things, live for the moment.”

Ivy looked over the warehouse floor again. All the preparation going into an event she didn’t want to be part of. And then the reckless plan handed to her in that moment.

“This time, if I say we hand back the goods to save our necks, we do it. We can’t get thrown in the asylum now of all times. Joker will skin us for it.”

“You’re worrying too much, Red. Worst case, I’ll give him my share and he’ll be back to smiling all the way. We’re building you a new rep after all, that’s gotta be good for everyone here.”

“None of that is important as you are, Harl. You’re the only friend I have. I don’t want you going out on a limb and taking the fall for me.”

Harley shuffled over from her spot to put an arm around Ivy’s shoulders, pulling her into a tighter embrace.

“He ain’t gonna hurt anyone over the two of us havin’ some fun. This is hangout night two, with more adrenaline and smashin’ shit up. What’s not to like?”

*

Compared to her run down look of the shirt and tattered denim shorts, the overcoat, broad hat, head scarf and sunglasses was blatant overcompensating on Ivy’s part. Especially when the daylight hours were at an end outside. So completely out of place and excessive that she was bound to draw attention. Exactly as planned.

She was standing outside the east entrance of the bank. Harley would be entering from the north, and the south-west corner had been sealed off some months ago. All she had to do was seal off the east door once inside, and the police response would cluster around the north. A far less advantageous position for them to enter from when Harley’s own barricade fell.

That left the time in between for her to take the lead on finding and cracking the vault. Most of it she could theoretically force, and the rest would be a simple matter of conjuring the right amount of cooperation from the staff on hand.

Before taking the last step towards the doors, she glanced to the pavement right at the threshold. A few ailing weeds had managed to work their way up through the cracks.

With the addition of the plant life inside, that was all she needed.

She reached up to her left ear to adjust her loosened hair. A convenient way of disguising her contact with the earpiece beneath the scarf.

“I’m seeing green, precious. Do what you do best.”

With enough layers to hide behind, she was able to put confidence in her stride as she entered the bank. A lonely woman walking the streets of Gotham in the twilight hours; confidence had to be abundant for such a feat.

One guard to her left immediately upon entering. Another would be beside the north entrance. A third was standing outside the tellers to the far right, and possibly a fourth in the office space directly above. The mid level that the north opened onto was desolate for the night, cutting down on civilians there for meetings. On the far left was the staircase down to the deposit boxes and the vault, though she was already planning on a more direct route.

There weren’t many potted plants around the room, certainly not enough to cover every single strategic point. But they had definitely slacked off in caution from her year-long departure from the city. Sloppiness that would cost Ace Chemicals dearly.

That made her smile more than the thought of the gold itself.

“Excuse me, ma’am.”

She ignored the guard, taking a few more steps towards the middle of the room.

“Ma’am, you’ll need to remove the hat and glasses. This is a secure area.”

Her right hand began weaving the plants in the teller area. Roots snuck their way around out of sight, quickly dashing around to ensnare all of the panic buttons to the point of being inoperable.

“Ma’am, if you don’t comply, you’ll be removed from the premises and reported to the authorities.”

She stopped once in position, developing her awareness of the plant life surrounding the building. Growing more roots through the tiny gaps. Snagging wires until they were ready to snap on command. Packed behind the walls and under the tiles. Waiting for the right moment to burst free.

With everything in position, she turned around towards the guard at last, putting out her painted smile.

“I’m sorry, my mind was elsewhere.” There was a level of flair as she reached up to grasp the hat and unfasten the scarf. The overcoat was closed on itself through folding alone, ready to come free at the exact moment she needed it to.

“I’ll be happy to comply!”

The hat and scarf flung off with an exaggerated flair of her arms that pulled the coat wide open. At the same time, the floor right below the guard erupted to a large vine that snagged him in a tight grip before he could reach for the gun.

The second guard on the ground level was ensnared by the nearby potted fern as it sprang out, growing in size at great speed until it loomed over him with its large fronds.

It wasn’t long after that the civilians began to panic. Frantic cries as the tellers finally noticed that the panic buttons were covered, only to stumble back as the spreading roots snatched away all the phones.

Behind Ivy, the weeds in the sidewalk massed up, forcing against the doors until they were knocked off the hinges. Within seconds, the entire frame was filled with a mass of thick plant matter that scaled up the wall above.

Far across the large room, the north doors were kicked open to Harley’s own dramatic entrance. The sharp clunk sound of her trademark bat connecting with the third guard’s head before she twisted it around to the secure spot on her back. A swift trade for her prized rifle, landing in her left hand with a satisfying thump of metal on leather as she descended the stairs.

“You all know the score! You stay down, shut up, and you walk outta here safely. We ain’t here for valuables or carry-ons, so keep your purses and junk outta the way! Try anything stupid, and Ives here will feed you to the plant monster she’s growing in the basement right now! Might’ve seen a movie about it!”

“We’re really rolling out the movie references between us, huh Harl?”

Harley shot a wink and a click of her tongue to Ivy. “You betcha! Do your thing, Red, I got this.”

“Don’t I know it hun.” Ivy stretched her arms out, then brought them together and up in a sweeping motion. A mass of vines burst out from the middle of the floor directly in front of her, spraying rubble towards the civilians on the ground behind Harley. The mass quickly fanned out into a wide green tunnel that ran right into the pre-vault room, carving a perfect way in and out.

With a cocky flick of her hair, she brought a few of the vines up to wrap around her own waist for a hammy descent. Dialling up the flair as much as she possibly could, bragging through action about her control over plant life.

Poison Ivy as she was in her prime, a literal queen of nature.

By the time she set foot in front of the vault door, more of her plants had already wormed into the mechanisms sealing it. Most of the inner mechanics she could brute force soon enough. Key to making their heist as fast as possible was cutting down the layers of security and locking standing in their way.

“Found him yet Harl? Be sure to send the bags with him.”

Above, Harley was already kicking her way into the teller room to get a look at the staff hiding behind their desks. Even in the poor light, she recognized the current code holder from her very brief scope-out earlier in the week.

“Right here gorgeous!” She tossed the pair of duffel bags right into his chest, then levelled the rifle in his direction. “On your feet buddy! And don’t drop those!”

“Please! Please don’t kill me! I’ll do whatever you want! I’ve got a family to get home to!”

Harley rolled her eyes, matching the sarcasm with a twirl of her trigger finger. “Oh cut the whining, I ain’t gonna bust ya kneecaps or anything. Maybe. I might get a little bored after all. Aaaand a little more over to the left…”

The teller screamed as a large vine from the pit snared him around the waist, lifting him clear over the teller glass and into the plant-lined depths where no-one else could see him. To the civilians above, it looked like the threat of being fed to a monster had been carried out after all.

Knowing better, Harley cackled with laughter as she strode back out to the open. “So, who’s gonna keep him company I wonder?”

Back down in the pre-vault, Ivy made no attempt to calm the teller on arrival. He slammed into the wall right beside the thumb scan and keypad with only enough force to rattle him a little more. He needed to be conscious and aware for the electronic layers after all.

Ivy sauntered right over to him with her seductive grin, something that had long gone unseen even before her departure.

“You know what to do. Make this quick, and you won’t even have to think about how you cheated on your wife tonight, hm? I’m not unsympathetic to the plights of insecure married men after all.”

“No! No no I’ll do anything! Just lemme-”

His hand frantically dragged across the wall, fumbling for the scanner before he mashed in the code with trembling fingers.

As soon as it cleared, Ivy had the vine throw him aside into an uncomfortable looking seat with an uncaring shrug.

“Too easy. Especially since I know how to get around the time lock. Just, like, this.”

A twist of her hand caused several of the roots still in the walls to contract, pulling enough of the right cords to short out the countdown above the vault door. With the magnetic lock off, all it took was the sharp grind of gears being forced to cave the last layer in.

She stepped back right before the vault door was swept open by the vines bursting from within. The vault itself was a mess of plant matter and broken springs, gears and glass.

Amidst all the debris sat their prize, a table lined with solid gold bars.

Her hands went to her hips while the vines retrieved the duffel bags and got to work filling them both. Satisfied as she already was in depriving harmful people of their ill-earned wealth, the feeling of avarice as the bags were loaded up brought on the excited rush that Harley claimed it would.  
  
For that night, she didn’t have to think about the roses, or her failure in the cause. She was half of an incredible heisting duo, putting her unique skillset to its fullest potential, and walking away richer for it.

As soon as both bags were filled, she zipped up each herself as they were hauled back out by the helpful vine. The second returned to wrap around her waist once more, both lifting up to the ground level again in triumph.

“Harley dear, I think we’ve got what we came for. Time to make ourselves scarce.”

“Oh, I love it when you talk with that kind of voice, Red. All soft and velvety…”

Ivy stepped down onto the ground, and for a few moments was captured by Harley’s gleeful face. The heist had supposedly been to cheer herself up, but there was a greater warmth, and especially contentment in making Harley happy as well. The tender fluttering sensation that transcended the lust and flirtation. She genuinely enjoyed making her smile.

Taken by the sweetness, her hand began reaching up towards that beaming face, hoping to hold it for that precious time they were in. “Harley, I-”

A crash at the north doors interrupted the moment at a extremely convenient moment to ruin it for Ivy. Officers were already storming the upper level, some with dart rifles at the ready.

Harley was swift in her response, throwing herself right between Ivy and those darts when they flew out. Some missed, landing in the vines sealing the east door. The rest punctured through her jacket, injecting her with the otherwise harmless serum that was designed to shut off Ivy’s chlorokinesis.

“Yeow! Bad time for this Red, but I might’ve forgotten to block the door!”

Ivy shook her head with a grimace. More of the floor was ripped up to be hurled at the storming officers for an escape cover. Another large vine tore up through the tiles below the two, catching the gold bags on the way to carry all up towards the ceiling. The trailing end lashed upwards to smash through plaster and concrete to the open sky above, sealing the hole behind them right as the bullets began to fly. They weren’t taking chances with the civilians it seemed.

There were a number of helicopters approaching the bank already. The downdraft of the rotors would render the darts useless, giving Ivy a moment to brush out the ones jabbed into Harley’s jacket before the gunfire would likely pick up again.

“So, this is where we improvise the escape plan? I suppose I’ve already tightened our choices by not going further down instead.”

“Get us a chopper and I’ll handle the rest. We’re pulling this off Red, told ya!”

“One escape vehicle coming up.”

As they moved towards the edge of the building, she took one of the gold bags onto her shoulder, stumbling at the weight. She waited until Harley had the other secure before sending the waiting vine out to latch onto the nearest civilian helicopter. The rest were already moving into place for a defensive wall against the police response.

It snagged the nearest securely, dragging the helpless news crew closer and closer. With the draft blowing right at them, and spotlights all around, the two stepped onto the landing bar and tossed their loot to safety inside.

Keeping the rifle in one hand, Harley grabbed at the camera in the hands of a petrified operator for her own kind of address to the viewers. “This one’s a big fat middler to all you greedy schlobs at Ace and any other moneygrubbing pissbags out there! Poison Ivy’s back in town! And she’s not gonna take shit from any of you! Clean up the planet, or we’ll come for you next! Harley and Ivy are in action again!”

Ivy wasn’t paying attention by that point, hanging onto the railing while standing on the landing gear while the vine slipped away. Staring directly into the lights and cameras still situated in her direction, and capping off the moment with an exaggerated blown kiss.

Thinking about how much it would come back to bite them wasn’t on her mind at that moment. It was a thrilling hour that brought back the nostalgia for attention of the infamous kind, and she was revelling in it all.

*

“So, got any places scoped out yet? Reckon there’s gotta be plenty of apartments in Old Gotham you can flip into a plant paradise.”

Ivy smiled at the thought. The arboretum was a safe haven, but it was also in the open, and she couldn’t secure it without causing more trouble. Paying off the right people to get no complaints about acquiring a place of her own did sound like the correct first step. Funding new plans would follow naturally once she no longer felt the danger of the Joker looking over her shoulder.

“Flipping implies I’d plan on selling it off. Somehow I don’t think Black Orchid is in the market, and I’m not selling to any kind of groupie either.”

“That’s something I gotta wonder about. Do you even have groupies that aren’t bleed-over from Greenpeace and that lot?”

“If I do, they’re smart enough not to get in my way at least. I mean, I could see you with groupies, Harl. You’ve already got some among the pushers. I’ve got the plants to cover pretty much anything I can’t do myself, so why bother? And mind control with pheromones is only useful for certain situations, and I don’t find it fun for its own sake anymore. We’re no longer in the days where we’d string Bruce for all he’s worth for a night out on the town.”

“Then I’d get drunk, you’d cry about being immune to alcohol, we’d make out, bonk each other, and wake up regretting everything.” Harley actually sniffled at that, taking a moment to reach up to keep her nose in check. “Oh god, Red, now I’m crying about those days too. What are we like?”

“We’re chasing the old thrill, but at least this time we’re doing something practical in the process. Provided you know how to launder this gold before it gets snatched back.”

“I know who to call, don’t worry. I practically run the laundering side of things for Mr J at this point.” Harley sniffled again, that time with more success in getting the nostalgic tears under control. They were reaching the light of the warehouse by then. Those brought on to build the petal cannons had now come to fit the prepared barrels and put all the fine mechanisms together.

“Tell me where to unload it so I can get going. Last thing I need is these meatheads asking questions I’m not allowed to answer, and then acting offended when I’m not allowed to ask questions myself.”

“I’ll keep ‘em in the office. Boys up there know not to touch anything any of us bring in without our say-so. Pay ‘em too well to get any funny ideas.”

“HARLEY!”

The pair were barely at the large doorway to the warehouse when the Joker’s voice rang out. It brought the entire floor to a brief halt as everyone stopped to look around. All eyes eventually found Harley in total silence.

Ivy looked to her at that, feeling the weight of the gold on her aching shoulder grow heavier by the second. The anger in his voice was too clear to mistake for anything else, and it was already leaving Harley trembling in fear.

“Harl, you don’t need to-”

“No, it’s okay, Red. I’m sure he’ll understand when I explain it to him.”

“Yeah, no. I promised I was going to try and not argue about this again, but-”

“Forget it, Ivy.” Harley winced at her own dropping the nickname, and for what she could tell was ahead. “Go relax at the arboretum or somethin’. I don’t want you to get an earful too.”

She followed that up by motioning for one of the more muscular guards on the floor to come over, handing her half of the gold when he arrived. “These go to the strong room. They’re for Ivy here, anyone who messes with it can answer to her.”

“No problem. Good luck with the boss.”

Harley gave him a disparaging look. Having the literal weight taken off only gave her less to think about that wasn’t what was waiting for her.

Ivy stood there longer without a word. Unable to look away from her taking the stairs up towards the Joker’s office, much as it pushed her back into the resentful mood. The two guards usually stationed inside the office had already been sent out to watch the door instead. Likely to keep her out.

“Miss Ivy? I can lead the way if you prefer to hold onto it.”

She closed her eyes for a shred of composure, then looked to the surprisingly polite guard. “How well do you know those two?”

The guard looked up towards the door, having followed her line of sight before that. “We’re all here because it’s easy money, not to make friends. We stick together because we know jail time’s the least of our worries working for the Joker. You thinking about causing them trouble?”

“Right now, they’re not the ones I have a problem with.” She slid into a frown after the doors closed behind Harley. “I’ll keep it that way.”

Right after handing her bag over, she wobbled uncomfortably at her shoulder feeling excessively light. It was already drawing some unwanted attention, prompting her further around where she could get closer to the stairs out of sight of the two guards in particular.

The metal grating that made up the walkways and stairs had always been of particular nuisance to her, requiring her to keep wearing shoes inside as well. On that occasion, it was of great benefit, giving her an ideal vector to waft a small burst of her pheromones up through.

She waited a few seconds before beginning up the stairs, timing it so that they would take the first inhale right as she came into view.

“Turn around, Poison Ivy. The boss said…”

Right on cue, a hazy look came across both of them, to Ivy’s relief behind the small smile.

“I’m not going to barge in. You two don’t look so well. Why don’t you sit down? I’ll fill in while you get a drink and let the headache pass.”

In their highly suggestible state, the two guards mumbled to each other before going off to do as instructed. Worryingly easy under other situations.

She didn’t wait long on their departure to move right up to the door. Despite it looking completely obvious, she immediately turned to put her ear to the door, only for the shouting to come through clear enough anyway.

“-don’t get to make the jokes here, Harley! This isn’t your therapy club!”

“I was just helping her out! Guess I’m on the wrong end of the joke for thinking you’d know what loyalty is huh?”

That was followed up by the sharp sound of a vicious slap. Loud enough to make Ivy flinch away from the door in shock. Anger at the flagrant abuse going on swept in to replace it when she listened closely again.

“Loyalty!? Where does Harley fucking Quinn get off on lecturing the Joker on loyalty!? After the amount of times you two have screwed around behind my back like I didn’t know!"

Another vicious slap, that time followed by sobbing from Harley.

Ivy’s fist pressed against the door. Her inner turmoil was working right up to the surface. The selfish desire to stay quiet and pretend like nothing happened, so that she could get her payment and go back to working her way up again. The burning disgust with the Joker himself, the only person in existence alongside Woodrue that she had an active hatred for, well past her general misanthropic nature.

In between both, the anguish and hypocrisy of considering herself Harley’s friend, and knowingly letting her walk in there alone. Especially when it was far from the first time.

“I spend weeks, months planning my escapades! Paying off hundreds of people! Thousands of man hours combined into each project! I’ve gone up against the Bat and nearly died more times than I care to admit! And you have the gall to think that you have any right to-!”

Knowing another attack would follow, Ivy made her decision.

She stepped back only enough to kick the door inward, standing there with an unflinching stance once she had the Joker’s attention. Taking a stand had cost her dearly once, but she wasn’t going to let it stop her from doing so again.

It was hard to maintain that stance when she saw Harley on the floor, clutching at a savage bleeding bruise on her left cheek.

Any pretence of humour was gone from that side of the Joker. The way his face mangled itself for him to grimace was nauseating, coupled with the bloodthirsty look in his eyes. There wasn’t even a hint of laughter in his voice.

“GET OUT!”

“No. You’re going to-”

As soon as that simple word of denial left Ivy’s lips, she felt a core chill at the change it brought out from him.

The Joker immediately went to grab his crowbar nearby upon hearing that word. The threatening manner to every step he took was overwhelming.

Ivy only came out of her moment of terror when he swung for her face.

She felt the metal smash into her cheekbone, throwing her back to the walkway hard. Her head thumped against the top railing when she crashed against it. The only thing that saved her from a broken neck or back if she had gone over to the floor a couple of metres below.

Complete disorientation, the delirium of trauma to the head. She could barely see or hear, but she could still distinctly feel the cold metal under her chin.

The Joker lifted her head with the curved end of the crowbar, torn between smiling at her maiming, and growling at her act of defiance.

“Poison Ivy. No respect for where she gets herself tangled up in as she strangles it to death. Welcoming you back in with open arms was a mistake.”

He caught Harley before she had a chance to grab at his jacket, throwing her back to the ground inside the office. “I’ll finish that later.” When he looked back to Ivy, seeing the spark of defiance in her eyes again, he flicked the crowbar to break her stare. “You’re done here. Get out, and don’t speak to Harley again.”

Beaten for taking a stand once again, Ivy shot one last glare at the Joker, then started to crawl away towards the stairs. She didn’t even try to look in Harley’s direction. That was bound to get her a second blow to the head, and at that point, being blinded felt likely.

Once she was out of range of direct attacks, she pulled herself up to get down the stairs in one piece. Everyone around the area had gone silent by then. None tried to aid her. Whether it was out of fear that the Joker wouldn’t tolerate further defiance, or that she would attack them for bruising her shattered pride further, she no longer cared to consider.

The rain had returned again by that point, a light drizzle that left her feeling chilled on top of everything else.

Her silent walk out of the Joker’s stronghold continued until she was well out of sight. Beyond the borders of the compound he had claimed, where none of the gangs had any claim.

Further on, she descended into the dark depths of a tight alleyway, devoid of plant life for her to feel sorry over when she broke down completely.

Long had she contemplated a plan to be used only when she felt humanity had completely lost its way. The core piece was already finished, waiting to be brought into the world. She felt closer to deploying it than she ever had in the past, even when trying not to choke from stab wounds in the deep Amazon.

To do so would deny her any real vindication on the Joker. And there was only one way she could obtain that now, without even more harm coming to Harley in the process.

*

The drizzle had washed the blood from her face by the time she arrived at the west end of Gotham’s midtown. There was no hiding the mess that had been made of her face. Vanity was far from a priority at that point anyway.

Her shirt was stuck to her body in a cold, stained mess, keeping the chilled feeling that sapped away what strength she had left after the bank heist. She was putting herself in danger on a gamble. For vengeance on the Joker, she was willing to take just about any chance.

A ruffle in the wind drew her attention upward. The moment of truth had come. Her reason for walking that far across the city, right into the known patrol routes all others were keen to avoid.

Silhouetted against the bright lights of STAR Labs, the unmistakable shape of the Batman loomed towards her. Many times she had dreaded that sight, and even as he drew closer, she was apprehensive about staying in position.

She had to, regardless of whatever her instincts were demanding. Standing where the light of the building behind him was far from a deterrent given Batman’s inclination to the shadows.

When he came to a landing, a deep thud of heavy boots on the wet concrete, Ivy lifted her head high and kept herself as calm as possible.

The soft white glow of his eyes kept him from being totally drenched in darkness by contrast. When that subsided through adaption, the glint of reflected light across the armoured suit became more apparent. Where it was visible through the cape anyway, catching most of the rain with a firm patter.

His eyes narrowed at Ivy for a few seconds, then widened again. A small show of concern from the otherwise stoic figure. A worried question that somehow managed to convey through the intimidating voice modulator.

“Who did this to you?”

Ivy came within a breath of breaking down in tears for the second time that night. Her aching lungs raked at her holding the lump in her throat down. Bleary eyes doing their best to stay open despite how clammy her entire face felt.

“You really have to ask?” She couldn’t even form a bemused expression with half her mouth swollen from the bruise and swelling inside her mouth. All of her fear and tension around Batman had been pushed aside by her disbelief at his question.

And then came the second, more potent realization that she had been waiting for. On all nights, of all the times she needed it, Batman was willing to hear her out.

“The gold heist was Harley’s idea. To cheer me up, nothing more.. If you know who owned it, then you know why I agreed to steal it. You can turn me over to GCPD for that, or you can hear what else I have to say. I couldn’t give less of a shit either way right now.”

Batman narrowed his eyes, taking a few steps forward. He brought his left arm up, then with a few quick commands established a white noise feedback around the immediate area.

“I’m jamming any potential listening devices. You can talk freely.”

While not a concern Ivy actually had, the gesture did put her slightly more at ease. Batman had apparently become more reasonable in her absence. Maybe in general, or to her specifically.

“Joker’s planning something big. I want a favour in return for telling you everything. When it will happen, where it will happen. Exactly how you can neutralize it without him finding out.”

“I can’t turn a blind eye to the theft. That will be up to Gordon, if your information is good.”

Ivy shook her head quite solemnly. “I told you, I don’t care about whether I’m arrested tonight or let loose. I need to get somewhere the Joker can’t touch me, that’s easy. The favour is that you get Harley away from him as well. However, wherever. He’ll hurt her to get to me. Guarantee that you’ll do what it takes to keep her safe.”

Batman stood there in contemplation, longer than Ivy appreciated, before giving his answer.

“I can’t make that kind of guarantee if there will be civilians in danger at the same time. I have to prioritize in a crisis, and she won’t want to be rescued.”

“There won’t be. If you do it exactly right, Joker won’t suspect anything’s wrong until a minute after he sets things off. I know you can take him down within that time, let the cops deal with his thugs. All I want is to know that Harley won’t have more than a bloodied cheek the next time I see her.”

“Fine. Give me the details, and I’ll leave Harley in GCPD protective custody. We can discuss leniency after that.”

Ivy took several long breaths after that. In all her years, there were times when she was willing to be cooperative, even helpful on the rare occasion. She had never once felt the compulsion to be an active informant. To betray closely guarded secrets like that. It was still so fitting that it would be the Joker on the receiving end of that betrayal, and utterly horrifying for her future if he ever learned the truth.

“He’s going to attack the Valentine’s Day parade in the afternoon. He’ll make a big spectacle of it, act like he hasn’t been beating Harley behind closed doors, play it up as some romantic gesture of goodwill. And when he’s got maximum coverage on the streets, he’ll shower everyone attending with rose petals. Ones I grew for him, laced with gaseous neurotoxin.”

Batman’s eyes went wide with shock at that, though soon turned to anger as he took a step forward. “You willingly gave him that kind of weapon?

Ivy’s lip began to tremble. Suppressing the tears became harder again. “He threatened to kill me on the spot for asking questions. So, yes, I gave him the lethal roses ‘willingly’. Now I’m going to tell you how to neutralize those petals, willingly.”

When he backed down, she recited the exact chemical formula, watching him enter it to his computer system. There was more relief when she saw him recognize the composition itself.

“Yeah, that one. It’s the only toxin I could safely weave into the plants. Never thought we’d both be grateful that you know the antitoxin formula now.”

Batman looked up from the display to her again. More of his demeanour had changed. “Come with me. I can protect you from the Joker. Far better than you’ll be able to on your own.”

Ivy reached for the unscathed side of her face, trying to hold back laughter of disbelief. “I told you, I’m not the one in danger. Now that I’ve told you everything, I have to do things my way. Put Joker away for good, keep Harley safe, and I’ll come back peacefully. If Joker gets away, I will go after him. Especially if he takes Harley with him.”

“Ivy, I’m not going to turn my back if you try to kill him. You know I can’t be a willing bystander to that.”

“I won’t kill him. I’ll leave enough for him to get to trial, and whatever comes after. You can’t fight me and neutralize the roses tonight, so I really do suggest you do this properly, and take him down when the time comes.” Her hand slid around to the other side of her face, tracing along the wicked break in her skin. “I am this close to losing it. Don’t give me one more reason."

After another pause for contemplation, Batman closed down the display to retrieve a small device from the wristguard. He tossed it to Ivy where he knew she would be able to catch it.

“I mean it. If he’s not fit to stand trial when this is over because you got to him first, I’ll do whatever it takes to see you kept in Arkham for good. The killing has to stop, Ivy, or I’ll stop trying to reach whatever humanity you have left.”

“I’d say that’s just insulting, Batman. But…” Her hand drifted away from the wound on her face, clenching onto her bloodstained shirt by the hem. The other that had caught the beacon provided went down to the pocket for safekeeping. “Maybe there’s nothing human in here left to reach. I’m not doing this to save thousands of lives. I want to see the Joker fall. I want Harley to be free of him. Maybe that’ll be enough to keep me from wiping out humankind.”

“If you really were that far gone, Ivy, you wouldn’t care about anyone. Harley’s not the only one to see that you aren’t beyond hope.”

“Spare me the bleeding heart routine, Batman. Do what you have to. I’ll do the same. If that makes us enemies by this time next week, more’s the pity.”

Batman didn’t speak after that, settling for one last exchange of looks before he turned to grapple away.

Ivy stood in the alley for minutes longer, eventually folding her arms for some minimal warmth. She had just betrayed the Joker, and nothing could shake the deathly feeling that stalked her from that thought."

And she still didn’t regret it.


	3. A Death on Valentine's Day

“And we’re live at the annual Valentine’s Day celebrations on Zimbalist Boulevard, so far the turnout looked to be better than ever! Concerns about continuing with the event were raised when it was learned that long-absent eco-terrorist Poison Ivy had returned to Gotham. Authorities have made assurances that no trouble is expected from the former supervillain, though in the wake of a severe gold robbery a few nights ago blatantly connected to Poison Ivy by Harley Quinn herself, others have their doubts that she will remain quiet for long.”

“Back to studio.”

Vicki sighed as soon as she was able to get out of the camera’s view. “Who’s writing this? Is someone deliberately rubbing in that I didn’t get the gold theft story?”

The cameraman did his best to shrug with the hefty equipment resting on both shoulders thanks to the harness used. “What am I supposed to do about it?”

“I don’t know! How long until I’m back on?”

“Five minutes? More if they switch to the heli view after commercials.”

“Fine, let the airboys have their moment. Let’s get down there for the next shot. Somewhere.”

They had access to a very thin walkway between the barrier on the roadside where the parade floats would be, and the crowds of onlookers that had spilled into the parking lanes. Moving up towards where they were set to appear from was difficult enough without the hounding of those wanting their five seconds of fame, and had no idea the camera wasn’t live.

“Never take the public holiday crowd shift, stick it out for the big shots. I keep telling myself that but do I ever listen-”

Having her complaining actually answered seemed too far fetched a reason for seeing Bruce Wayne in that same walkway just a few metres ahead. One shining man of actual relevance in the midst of her descent into mediocrity.

“Get ahead, I don’t care how just get to the next spot!”

She pushed open a section of the barrier to let her cameraman through on the road itself, leaving her without having to get closer to the crowd to let him past. And more importantly, without bothering her current target of attention more than needed.

“Bruce! Bruce!”

Bruce’s reaction was for once lacking in the forced pleasantries when he turned to Vicki. He was clearly on the lookout, eyeing up the boulevard on his way ahead to where the floats were parked.

“Vicki, before you ask, I’m not able to give an interview at this time.”

“Oh forget that, I’m stuck with ‘talk about all the oversized pinatas’ duty today. What’s the dice on Poison Ivy coming back?”

He immediately went from distracted to disturbed, and worried. “What do you mean? Has something else happened?”

“You tell me. Word’s already gotten out that you met with her nearly a week ago in the park.” When she noticed him making ready to leave, she sighed while reaching for his arm. “You’re not on camera, and I’m not taking notes. I know there’s a story here, but I’m worried about you as well. I haven’t forgotten what happened the last time she pulled me into her sick mind games with you.”

“This time’s different, I promise. I offered her a safe haven to get away from bad influences like the Joker, she turned it down, we went our separate ways. That she robbed a bank a few days later is unrelated. That’s the long and short of it. No pheromones or the like at play.”

“Oh, that’s all, huh? And Joker’s the bad influence, not Harley ‘we’ll come for you next!’ Quinn? Bruce, I’m far from the only one who starts worrying when you put yourself at risk reaching out to these demented people.”

Bruce scowled at that notion for a bit, softening back only to contempt while reaching up for the bridge of his nose. “I really don’t have time to get into this right now. All I meant was that I’m trying to help the people who need it without being forceful or pushing where I’m not welcome. Much as I’d like to get into a larger discussion about this, I don’t need a fresh argument with my PR agent. So if you’ll excuse me?”

Within the minute, he was gone around the corner, having brushed past the cameraman as he struggled to get back into the walkway.

Vicki rolled her eyes on the way up to help him out, grumbling more to herself all the while. “Well great, we can cross off Wayne for any interviews in the near future. ‘PR agent’ might as well mean ‘your story is dead before it starts’.”

The cameraman wisely kept any thoughts he was having to himself, doing his best to hide behind the rigging as he readied for the next broadcast.

“Live in fifteen. Floats should start rolling out any moment now.”

“Yeah, fine. Make sure you let me know when they actually appear. I’m not going to keep looking over my shoulder every five seconds.”

“Eight seconds. I’ll twirl a finger or something.”

“Whatever.”

Around the corner, Bruce had already ducked away from the procession into an enclosed parking lot. The disguised Batmobile was situated towards the back, with the gadget compartment opening up to the brick wall. As hidden as he could possibly keep it during afternoon hours.

With a cursory glance around for safety, he moved to that compartment to retrieve his earpiece. The suit itself would have to wait until the Joker revealed himself, and people would stop looking for Bruce Wayne.

“Oracle, any luck in tracing which float he’s commandeered?”

“ _Not a clue. You’re still sure he’s going to be in one of them?_ ”

“Positive. He’ll want to be the center of attention, and a float is the ideal place for his thugs to spring from with proper protective gear.” On that same note, he took the time to examine the suit for a routine check, especially given the damage it had sustained over the past two weeks.

“ _Then he might have brought in one of his own for all I know. There’s nothing here to suggest any of them have been hijacked or had replacement crews within the past few days._ ”

“Keep at it, notify GCPD when you’ve identified the right one. Gordon needs to know where to position everyone. What’s the status on the others?”

“ _Tiffany’s got four drones monitoring the north-east and south-west exits of the boulevard. She’s still stationed at the coffee shop two blocks away, like you insisted._ ”

Bruce smirked a little while running a fingernail over a deep scratch in the cowl. “Is she still upset about it?”

“ _I talked her down a bit, Lucius did most of the convincing. I still think you’d be better off with extra boots on the ground rather than eyes in the sky._ ”

“That’s what Tim’s here for. I assume he’s holding cover?”

“ _I’m watching the float right now, he’s still operating it with the ‘all is well’ pattern. He’ll be there when you need him._ ”

“Hopefully it won’t come to that. Been a rough week between all the gang tension, and Penguin stoking the fires with gun shipments across the city. An easy takedown would be good for city morale.”

“ _I hope you’re right. Have you heard anything from Poison Ivy? She has to have another way out of that arboretum besides the front door. There’s no evidence she’s left in nearly two days now, I don’t think she’s ever been that stationary during Valentine’s Day in the past._ ”

That gave Bruce reason to pause in the middle of recalibrating the gauntlets. Vicki’s questioning had put her back in the forefront of his mind when the situation needed his focus above all else.

“She’s still in there. I’m content to leave her be if it means she won’t interfere with putting Joker away. We still need to get Penguin’s arms smuggling under control before we start focusing on getting Ivy and Harley into actual reform care.”

“ _You think they’ll stick it out this time?_ ”

“Joker’s getting sloppy and careless. Ivy’s already done more than turn her back on him. Harley must be close to shutting him out as well. But I won’t risk making a mess of this because our attention is divided.”

“ _Fair enough. Speaking of, the parade’s getting further along. If Joker’s going to make his entrance, it’ll be any time now._ ”

Bruce smiled at that as he moved into the car, ready to move out for deployment. “Then it’s time for Batman to make his as well.”

*

The third float in the procession was a cartoonish depiction of Cupid, held in place as it floated above by several strong metal cables. Below the balloon, two marble imitation pillars stood on the stage above the driver’s cab. While most other floats had performers doing their rehearsed waves and the like, that one was devoid of activity.

“ _Tiff to Oracle, I’m not getting any radio chatter from number three. The driver isn’t talking with anyone. Same with the co-ordinators. Think that’s the one?_ ”

A fifth drone began moving in closer from the south-east when the stationary pair lost direct tracking.

“ _Keep tabs on it. I’ll ask GCPD to do an emergency check-in. And please don’t lose that drone as well, they could throw up jammers when Joker makes his move._ ”

“ _Fine, falling back to ten metres. Still think we should’ve armed this one._ ”

The drone whirred back over the crowd of onlookers, partially hidden behind tree foliage and amidst the darker parts of the various shop signs.

“ _Joker’s high strung and way more prone to provocation right now. Until we work out a higher safe yield for those stunners, they’re only a liability that will upset him into doing something dangerous. I’ve been studying him a lot longer, Tiffany, there’s a pattern brewing here._ ”

“ _Yeah, I know I’m the new girl on the block, and I’ve had an itchy trigger finger in the past. But if Batman needs a distraction, I’m the next one to provide it if Robin can’t get there in time._ ”

“ _You’re welcome to sit in as Oracle for a while if you’re feeling sidelined. It took years for Batman to trust me enough to call me in for the big fights. There’s a time and place for questioning his plans, and it’s not while we’re on the mission, alright? Before and after, that’s when we step in to refine things._ ”

The drone stopped in position shortly after the targeted float did. More radio chatter between the vehicles followed, and when that followed, the blaring of truck horns.

“ _I think this is it. Moving to fifteen metres surveillance._ ”

With the precise amount of predictability to the Joker’s usual plans, both he and Harley emerged from doors inside the marble pillars. The other drivers had left their floats to investigate, leaving them in the middle of the thugs as they also emerged from further back under Cupid’s fake cloud.

The driver of that float emerged at last to toss the cabled microphone up to the Joker while taking his position at the front as another gunman. At all the exits to the boulevard, the rest of the crew had taken up positions to keep the gathered crowd contained.

The Joker himself gazed over the mildly concerned crowd, perturbed by the lack of panic to begin with, then taking it as a more approachable audience.

“Testing, testing! Can all you wonderful Gothamite lovebirds hear me?”

He grinned at the way the crowds went quiet. Capturing their attention was so simple, laughably so even.

“Well, what can I say? You all know me. Most of you hate me. Some of you love me. And it’s that last one that we’re all thinking about today after all. That fickle, intangible, exploitable, manipulative, cold, vicious and awful thing we all call love! Ain’t that right, Harley?” He flicked his wielding hand over to her for the rehearsed answer.

She did her best to smile through the extra make-up caked onto her bleached skin where the bruise was at its worst. “Sure is, Mr J!”

“You see, love can be traced back to being the cause of so much misery and pain in the world! And here we all are, merchandising, sensationalizing, commercializing, stereotyping it! And yes, I did decide to consult a thesaurus for this act! Let a man take pride in being well versed!”

He began pacing around the small stage, flicking the microphone cord as he went to keep it from snagging. His superficial mood was still running thin.

“I’ve done a lot of thinking about love these past few weeks in particular! Obviously all those Hallmark productions and other theatrical trash wants you to think of love as the romantic, the sappy, the utterly sickening devotion of two sick souls to each other! But it’s so much more complex than that! It comes in so many unique forms, occurs across so many boundaries! Why limit this day of days to celebrating the most base kind? The one that you all pretend isn’t a thinly-veiled pretense to screwing the shit out of each other!”

The Joker gave a sarcastic shrug after that earned some gasps from the onlookers. “Oh, I’m sorry, I forgot that a dozen men wielding automatic rifles wasn’t enough to remind you all that this isn’t a family-friendly performance! When the streets run red with more than just roses, and bodies are literred from New Gotham to Old, all those children will be thinking of nothing but the time the fucking Joker swore in public! Truly their minds will be corrupted and twist the next generation into utter degenerates!”

He shot another glance at Harley, shrugging again with a more belated manner.

“No takers? No angry mothers ready to storm up here and shout me down because they don’t respect any feelings but their own? Fine, let’s get back to my talk about love while we wait for the big bad Bat to give us an afternoon guest appearance!”

A beckoning finger brought Harley a little closer. The beckon quickly turned to an aggressive grab once she was close enough for him to pull in tight.

“You see, I have a confession to make, citizens of Gotham. Sadly, I haven’t been entirely faithful to the shining diamond in my life. This wonderful little wretch pinned to my side has not been the only fixation of my existence.”

The two shared a glance, Harley’s forced smile starting to soften when she saw his shift away as well.

It was broken by him violently hurling her to the stage below in an outburst, another flick of the cord catching her across the face.

“But at least I’ve never tried to hide it! What kind of a Valentine’s Day gift is it when you know your significant other is fingering that plant-infested whore we were supposedly rid of for so long!? And Harley’s not even a vegetarian! That’s the true height of hypocrisy for you!”

“Mr J, I-”

“Yes, you’re hearing it all right! I’m not finding any of this funny! Christmas misery is funny! Easter explosions are funny! But where is the humour in something that everyone’s already been through and couldn’t give less of a shit about anymore? I’m saying it now so you all understand; I hate Valentine’s Day!”

A great feeling of relief came when Batman swooped down to land on the stage. Even Joker’s mood visibly picked up on seeing him there at last.

“Finally! Been standing here ranting about nothing like I’m on some pretentious web series for literal minutes now!”

“You’ve lost your touch, Joker. It’s time to stand down.”

The smaller drone moved from its hiding place to hover closer to Batman in the safety of the suit’s own jamming field.

“ _No kidding. Oracle told me about him being high-strung, but this is almost sad. We sure this is the real Joker?_ ”

The Joker glared at the drone, his brief elevation falling away as quickly. “What’s this supposed to be? Bat-lexa? This is supposed to be a two-person act!”

Batman looked to the drone with a glare, watching it fly back out of range, then tilted his head over to the left. Harley was leaning against one of the pillars in a sobbing mess. “I think you’ll find you’re alone in this. I’m not playing your game, and I expect Harley won’t take to being discarded yet again. Stand down.”

“Psh, Harley Harley Harley! What is it with all the people in my life going after her instead? When did it stop being about us? About me?”

There was an intimidating amount of knuckle-clenching from Batman. “You’ve lost all meaning. The endless killing and murdering, the extremes you’ve pushed to try and break others. It’s worn away everything. You’re an abusive low-life, who’s dragged out the same joke too many times. No-one’s laughing anymore. No-one cares.”

Dejection was all over the Joker’s face. It wasn’t the first time he had been on the receiving end of a demotivator speech from Batman. It was the first time it actually started to hit home.

“Not funny, am I? Well, in that case…” His free hand reached up for a sharp finger snap directed at Harley. “Then perhaps I simply need to work harder!”

After the beating, the humiliation, the shunning, and the potential loss of her best friend, Harley looked right at the Joker for several seconds. Then, with a harsh inhale, retreated back into her obedient state.

Knowing exactly what was coming, Batman lunged for the Joker first. The exchange of blows that followed was only routine in how unpredictable the Joker’s attacks were. Seemingly wild swings that broke all conventions of fighting to exploit any possible weakness in Batman’s stance. All part of the lengthy distraction while Harley tossed out gas masks to the gunmen below, holding onto the last pair while she went for the remote detonator.

“Sorry Bats, but Mr J’s all I got left now that Ivy’s walked out on me.”

More than the adrenaline of fist fighting the Batman, the Joker’s laugh at that moment came from that simple reminder that he adored every time it came up. Harley would always come crawling back to him, no matter what.

He drove Batman back with a harsh kick to the knee. Mostly ineffective against the armour design of the suit, but it still clearly hurt enough to put him at bay.

“See Bats? Treat ‘em mean, keep ‘em keen! My gift to you, Harley!”

“Quinn no!”

Harley’s eyes were glistening when she slapped the detonator, knowing that the grand spectacle had been Ivy’s work all along.

Across the rooftops of the entire boulevard, crude cannons hidden under crepe paper angled upward towards the sky, then fired off in succession.

The sky was soon rife with thousands on thousands of red rose petals, a deadly shower that was fluttering towards the crowds below by the second.

While Batman was left looking to the sky, the Joker stepped back closer to Harley, donning his gas mask with grace.

“I looked at some old plans of mine! At first, I thought about filling this balloon with poisonous gas to spray across the crowds! But then I realized you’d just snatch it away with that oversized boomerang of yours! So, why not let human greed for collectible affection do the killing instead? That’s the real joke here!”

Batman stood there for a little longer, watching the first petals approach the rooftops as the crowds began to panic again. More drifted lower, and lower, until finally coming to rest on the tallest heads amongst the crowds.

Beneath the warping view of the visor, the Joker quickly noticed the lack of neurotoxin clouds. The way the panic of the crowd faded off again when they came to realize the petals were doing nothing. Through the scowling sculpt of the Batman, his subtle smile painted across his lips and chin.

“Wrong again. Poison Ivy’s greenhouse was easy to find thanks to the oversized plants grown around it. And she’s used that particular neurotoxin in the past. Once I identified it, infusing her roses with the antiserum was no challenge at that point. Had you not thrown her out, she might have noticed the difference and counteracted the toxin before the harvest, and your plan would have worked.”

He advanced on the Joker, hammering in his absolute failure in that moment. First with the speech, and now with the plan. “The joke’s on you. You lose, and you have only yourself to blame.”

All around the boulevard, GCPD officers began moving in to disarm the gunmen holding everyone at bay. The panic was renewed by gunfire, though it was at least accompanied by the sound of officers calling out for the evacuation at last.

Batman followed it up by ripping off the Joker’s gas mask and lifting him by the lapels. “It’s over! Tell them to stand down! Now!”

“Oh Batsy!”

The Joker descended into one last bout of hysterics. Everything had failed in the most embarrassing way possible. Laughing was the only course of action before he set off the wild card, gesturing a hand upwards.

“It’s not quite over yet! This is Valentine’s Day after all! And as much as I hate it, I can’t help but adore the tropes, like love’s arrow. Cupid!”

From on top of the inflatable’s structure, an arrow zipped past and struck Batman right in the collarbone, punching through a weak point in his armour.

It buried deep enough to make him cry out in agony and stumble back, his left arm going limp from the pain. He caught only a glimpse of the attacker high above, a woman dressed in green When he stumbled to his knees, the second arrow struck down underneath one of the plates running beside his spine. Far more superficial, but dangerously close to leaving him paralyzed below the stomach.

Free of his grasp, the Joker followed up the crippling attack with several savage punches to put Batman down on the stage floor. Cackling with glee at his pyrrhic victory.

“An ace up the sleeve! A lazy deus ex machina! Call it what you like Batman! Carrie Cutter here was kind enough to do me a favour in return for a quiver of diamond-alloy arrows!”

“Well worth it, Joker!” Cupid gave a mocking salute as she stood up, nocking a third arrow in anticipation of a finisher. “If I’m to be given the honours?”

“Ah, but but but, shouldn’t you be saving those for your best bud in Star City? This one’s mine to crush underfo-”

The Joker was swiftly cut off by a staff strike to the face, sending him sprawling towards Harley in a bloody mess.

Robin darted over to protect Batman from a killing strike, facing between Cupid and Joker while waiting for the Batmobile to catch up.

“If he dies, you’ll answer for it!”

Cupid cocked her head with a sadistic smile, training the next arrow right on Robin’s face. “I haven’t gone for the heart yet. But if you insist…”

She pulled back, only to be thrown down the side of the balloon by a jet-boosted kick to the midsection by Batgirl. Both soon landed on the ground, the former in much worse shape as every scrape and impact caught her full on. The latter had detached from the larger drone in the process of landing her blow, and with far better reflexes used the descent to steady herself on the way down.

Tiffany’s stunt had saved Robin, but had now put her right in the middle of the gunmen defending the float as well.

“Shit! Oracle!”

“ _On it! Hang tight!_ ”

Before they could turn from fighting off the GCPD to her, the large drone swooped in to apply a sharp flashbang to the immediate area. Potent enough to distract the thugs for Batgirl to hit them with stunners in the chaos. Cupid was put down with a sharp elbow to the head, leaving her unable to resist being cuffed.

“ _Get clear! It’ll be on you any second._ ”

“I’m on it!” She yanked Cupid over the collapsed barriers towards where the officers were moving in. By then, the roar of the Batmobile as it charged past the floats was loud enough for them all to hear, and pushed her to move that much faster.

At the same time, Robin was still doing his utmost to keep the Joker away from doing any more harm to Batman. Even with a bloodied mouth, he was rising to the challenge with his signature knife on full display.

“I’ll be scalping a second Robin after all! Harley, If you’d be so kind!”

Robin clocked the Joker with another hard swing, giving him a few seconds to focus on Harley when she started circling.

“No-one here wants to fight you! We’re taking the Joker down, now’s your chance to walk away!”

“Oh yeah, bird-brain? What’s changed ya tune from all those times you smacked me over the head? Like I wasn’t even worth fighting proper!”

“I’m not getting into this, Harley! Walk away, or you take the fall with him!”

Seeing the Batmobile pull up beside the float put his timing on the edge. Batman was still conscious, but unable to move down to where Batgirl could get him inside.

The momentary pause was all the Joker needed to close back in and grapple for the staff.

“The ideal test of loyalty, isn’t it?” He threw his weight into a headbutt, planning to daze Robin while Harley moved around back to sweep him off his feet.

Robin moved quickly, narrowly avoiding the headbutt to use the Joker’s motion against him. With a cry of exertion, he threw him down onto the front of the truck, then slid the staff back to punch Harley in the stomach with it. Enough to leave her winded without causing more facial trauma.

“You get one more chance.” He tossed the staff down towards the Batmobile, freeing both hands to get under Batman’s arms and guide him towards the lower roof. From there, Batgirl slid him onto the car’s bonnet, facing down to let her get at the second arrow first.

“Shit, oh shit. Can I get this one out?”

“ _Vitals say it didn’t hit the spine. You’ll have to pull it, we can’t risk it digging closer on the way over._ ”

Batgirl threw herself over Batman briefly when Robin leapt down to continue the fight with the Joker, doing her utmost to not push down on the arrow. When they were clear, she ground her teeth for the gruelling task of gripping it firmly, then pulling it back against the armor plating. Feeling it catch against the metal and fabric drove up her nausea, until it finally pulled free in a bloody mess.

Batman’s cry of anguish put her on the edge of vomiting.

“First one’s out! What about the second?”

“ _It’s in too deep! You can’t pull that one without shredding his lungs!_ ”

“Oh make it sound even worse why don’t you Oracle?”

“Bolt… cutters…”

Beneath the mask, Tiffany was already in tears when she heard Batman’s weak voice at last. She knew exactly where the bolt cutters were kept, and what she had to do with them was driving her further into traumatic sickness.

From the tool compartment, she had only a partial view of the continued brawl between Robin and the Joker. Much as she wanted to help get some vindictive hits on him, all her willpower had to be on saving Bruce.

“God I hate this.”

She brought him closer to the kerb, wincing as she brought the cutters up towards the arrow shaft. After some thought, she set it a couple of centimetres above the top of the shoulder plates, hopefully enough for the surgery to grip later.

“Do it… do it!”

The moment came, and she had to turn away. The awful crunch of the bolt cutters slicing through glass-fibre and metal. A second, far more anguished scream. Then the sickening silence when Bruce had passed out completely.

“Robin!”

As soon as he was able to push the Joker back enough, he vaulted over the front of the truck to her aid. Both did their best to hastily carry Batman around to the waiting seat, then closed it off.

“He’s in Oracle! Go!”

The Batmobile blared back to life, speeding right past the rest of the floats and out of sight within seconds. Both hoped that it was soon enough to keep Bruce from succumbing, and at best another long-term recovery that would leave the city vulnerable.

That much seemed certain for the night ahead regardless.

“Let’s get those two rounded up before-”

A gunshot from the truck sprayed glass across the two, the bullet itself burying into Robin’s arm. Batgirl pulled him to the ground, though it proved pointless as the Joker opted for speeding off in the float after the single shot anyway.

The inflatable Cupid was ditched shortly after, flying off with a mess of loose cables until it collapsed over one of the birch trees lining the path.

It marked the end of the immediate danger in any case, Batgirl helping Robin back to his feet while she let her small drone scan the wound.

“Shit, you were all right. I wasn’t ready for this.”

Despite the searing pain, Robin found enough strength to grasp her shoulder with his good arm. “We’re never truly ready until the moment comes. Good save on taking down Cupid.”

Another surge of pain came from the aggravated wound. Unlike with Batman, he was in a less vulnerable state to let paramedics on the scene treat him. “Don’t go after Joker, not now. He’ll have thugs crawling all around his place looking to shoot anything they see. Get Nightwing up to speed, he’s always ready to cover when we need him.”

“Yeah, yeah I will.” She retrieved the drone once it had finished scanning, switching it to display mode for the medics to look at when they brought the bed up. “I’ll send this to your computers now. Anything you can do, please. We need him out there.”

“We will. Appreciate you taking up the job, Batgirl.”

With all the violence and gruesome experiences surrounding her, Tiffany found it hard to smile at anything in that moment. Even for a moment’s solace before the shock wore off.

“ _We’ve got another problem. I need you to get over to the arboretum ASAP!_ ”

The quiet moment was gone, meaning her night was far from over. Batgirl reached her arms out to let the large drone reattach to her back, then carry her up high above to make headway towards the arboretum downwind of the boulevard.

“Are they going after Poison Ivy?”

“ _I don’t know. All the cameras outside went dead. Likely sabotage, maybe a localized blackout. Tiffany, I know Tim told you not to go after the Joker, so don’t go near his base if that’s where he’s headed. Either he’s about to go after Ivy, or she’s going after him. You have to stop that before they escalate this even further!_ ”

When the arboretum plaza came into view, all Tiffany could see was the layer of rose petals that had drifted on the downwind from the boulevard. The fountain had stopped flowing after the fact, given that it had submerged several already. The arboretum itself was dark. A localized power outage, something only Ivy could achieve in that way, confirming the theory.

“She’s already gone, Barbara. Do I try and catch her, or-”

“ _No, no the area’s crawling with gunmen now. Come back to the clocktower, I need you here co-ordinating the drone fleet more than I need you out there as Batgirl. I’m sorry, but you’re not ready to take on both the Joker and Poison Ivy alone._ ”

“I’m sorry I complained earlier, Barb. I really am.” Tiffany took a long look around the plaza before lifting her hood, only enough to clear away the tears. “This isn’t what I expected it to be like.”

“ _I know. No-one should start off right at the deep end like this. Believe me, I get it._ ”

*

The truck screeched before spinning out on entering the warehouse, skidding along the concrete floor and buried rails before coming to a stop.

“A real massacre on Valentine’s Day! That’s all I wanted!”

Everyone jumped back in fright when the Joker kicked his door open. His face, jacket and waistcoat were all a bloody mess, as was the tangle his hair had fallen into.

“But nooooo! The Batman decided to be five steps ahead of me! Can’t even let me have one death more than that pitiful gang execution to make it count!”

Halfway around the truck to the stairs up to his office, he noticed Ivy dangling from the cloud mold on top. The wind-torn hair and dazed look on her face made clear she had been hanging there for the entire blitz from the parade.

“A lot of help you were! All I wanted was a shish-kebab Robin to work with! This one’s given me a literal splitting headache to deal with, and I need an outlet before I really start to lose it!”

Every step taken up the metal grating shook the entire walkway. An evening supposedly for the work crews to wind down after doing their part had become the prelude to hell.

“And I mean really! I fly a D-list villain all the way across the country for one stupid fucking gag, and she bites it the moment the latest kid on the block dons the tiny ears! Is Batman looking to diversify his band of flying rodents? I’ve already given him a disabled person and a zombie!”

He threw open the door to his office with barely enough restraint to keep it from flying off the hinges. What was supposed to be his sanctum of insanity now felt dreary, even to him.

It would have to go. Everything would have to go. A new hideout. A new take on his identity. A whole new outfit, both in fashion as well as hired muscle.

“One bad day. One more bad day.”

The laughter began in a slow build. One hand clutching at his forehead, digging through his hair. It rose to a cackle, breaking into hysteria soon after.

“One more day! That’s all Gotham gets! One more day before it all burns!”

The rumble of metal echoed through the laughter. Sluggish steps, threatening to stumble right over the railing. Harley had woken up enough to come see him in the office.

He couldn’t contain himself any longer. Fingers pulling at his face, clawing at his scalp. It all made sense to him in that moment. The reliance on others. The descent into bad taste. His complete and utter failure to live up to his own legacy.

“One more day to kick it all back into gear! All I need is the Bat to get on his feet, and it’ll be perfect. I’ve failed. Totally. Utterly. Failed. And so will he.”

His neck snapped around, wide eyes fixated on Harley, illuminated only by the light seeping in through the doorway. “Just the two of us, standing in the ashes of Gotham while it burns around us! We fail together! We fall together! As it was meant to be!”

Dazed from beatings, bruisings and all around whiplash, Harley had one simple moment of clarity as she clung to the doorway. There was no illusion about the fact that the Joker wasn’t talking to her. She didn’t care anymore.

“Joker? What do we do now? Where do we go from here?”

“Joker. Joker Joker Joker.” The Joker straightened up with another laugh. His bloodied hand wiped the hair back from his face again when he started to pace. Putting it all together in his mind. Pondering the details in length.

“What was it he said? ‘Had you not thrown her out’...” He mumbled along the next bit. “‘-your plan would have worked.’ How funny of him to phrase it like that.”

Harley thought about it, and couldn’t help lashing her hand to her mouth when it connected for her first.

The change in the Joker’s face said it all. Hysteria once again gave way to focus. Beyond anger and rage, the cold burn of betrayal. A breaking of the rules that defined his existence. A wrong word to the wrong person that saw everything upturned. His master stroke undone by one woman with nothing to lose.

“You have awful taste in women, Harley. Clearly, I do as well.”

He stepped past the crowbar, going for his pocketed knife instead. The blade flicked out as he approached her, catching a glint of the warehouse light.

“I’ll skin her for this. Use her as a rug, keep her under foot where she belongs. Ah hell, people say that they’ll skin someone alive…”

He pinned Harley to the wall with his left arm, leaving him free to press the flat of the blade to her bruised cheek. Scraping away the thick make-up.

“But people have a bad habit of dying in the process. Not her, though. Not Poison Ivy. I suppose being part-plant and having a strong healing factor has its drawbacks after all!”

The sound of crashing metal outside drew his attention to the window. It gave him a direct view of the massive vine that smashed right through the weathered glass. Hurtling him through the inside window and out onto the floor below.

More quickly followed, massive tendrils of green ripping through the metal walls like a great eldritch beast on the hunt for souls to devour. To those on the ground, that seemed to be the literal truth, helpless against the onslaught as more plant mass swerved its way around the building.

“Flamethrowers you idiots!” The Joker cut through his own veil of insanity to reach for the most basic of requirements. A commanding voice in the face of chaos. “Burn the bitch before she-!”

The plants heard. The plants acted accordingly.

One of the larger vines snared around the float, hurling it up into the air, then at the reserve of stolen fuel off in the secure corner. The eruption of fire caused other vines to recoil from the immediate area, some hurling anyone unfortunate enough to be in their way back into the inferno.

What was left of the office window was soon framed in a mass of twisting, leafy vines. Toxic to the touch. Entirely on theme for Poison Ivy when she made her actual return in person.

After years out of the green leotard, and keeping her hair tied up, it felt like the ideal moment to bring back both. The mess of red draped across her shoulders, greener than ever thanks to three solid days of basking in the tree’s radiance.

“Congratulations, Joker. You pushed your way past six and a half billion people to the top of my ‘Most Hated’ list. It took a decade of knowing you, but you got there. ‘One bad day’ is your running theory on what it takes to break a person? Try ‘one bad year’, and see how you go.”

“Oh for fucks sake…”

The moment he went for a gun, several smaller vines lashed out to ensnare him in a killer grip. But they hadn’t yet closed off his throat.

“That’s not how it works! Three quarters of the American population have had ‘one bad year’ easily! How can you be so utterly stupid and-”

He could feel bones in his body grinding as the vines tightened. One did eventually make it up to pressing down on his windpipe.

Ivy outstretched her arms to let her own set of vines take hold, carrying her off the opening towards Joker. Both suspended high in the air, both held up by her power alone. After all his manipulation, humiliation, she was the one in control.

“I hate what humanity does to this planet as a rule. There has been one, only one tiny spark of happiness in that revulsion. And you have the audacity to try and stamp on that spark. Because I know you, Joker. You think of women like you think of those diamonds you asked us to steal.”

The moment she sensed Harley moving up to try and protest, she had the plants restrain her back. Nothing was going to interrupt her.

“Hard to scratch, to really scar so deep that they never work quite the same. And yet brittle, always ready to shatter when you hit them in the right place. But it goes beyond that. We’re assigned a value by society, by how pristine we look, how few impurities we have to bear. The rest discarded, considered worthless, only good for grinding down. And for a man who claims to be the wake-up call for everyone living in a society, you’ve really bought into what they try to push into every growing youthful mind until-”

A sharp pain had crossed the side of her stomach, cutting right through the leafy leotard. Nothing more than a papercut, the superficial slice of a sharp playing card.

Both Ivy and the Joker crashed to the floor in a heap of plants, followed by all the suspended vines around the warehouse.

A card cutting deep enough to deliver its payload, shutting off her empowered chlorokinesis. One simple oversight that everyone had made with the Joker, forgetting that he was ready to counter anyone as needed.

Both were back on their feet within seconds, looking to get the advantage first. Still coursing from everything he had been through, the Joker was just slightly more resilient enough to land the first blow to Ivy’s face.

“Hard to scratch!?”

With Ivy off balance from the punch, that was all he needed to let loose on her. A vicious grip into the green fabric to hold her steady while beating her face in.

“You’re not strangling everything you wrap around! You’re tainting everything you touch!”

He threw her back before his knuckles started to bleed to avoid getting poisoned in the process. Far from done, he scraped around where he had landed for the signature crowbar again.

By the time Ivy was coming for him again, he had it in full swing, striking one of her ribs with a savage crack of bone.

“You’re right about easy to shatter!”

Another swing of his arm hooked her ankle and yanked it from under her, sending her to the ground with a scream that electrified his nerves.

“Here’s your wake-up call to society!”

The crowbar went high over his head, ready to strike the ground like a deity plunging a sword to earth. The forked end of the crowbar plunged right into her left foot instead, grinding against the concrete beneath.

Far from sating his bloodlust, the Joker was entirely rabid when he started barking orders to all those who hadn’t been crushed or cast to the fire in the corner.

“I wanted my Valentine’s Day Massacre! Call Penguin! Call all of them! We massacre Gotham tonight! This will not be the day I failed! This will be the day I laughed harder than ever!”

Leaving Ivy motionless on the floor, he stormed over to the armoury and kicked the doors in. “Take it all! Find any lout on the street, give him a gun, point him in a direction!”

Through the orange haze, the remainder of the Joker’s gang stormed out into the yard, many firing guns off to signal the beginning of their night of terror.

From a well-hidden vantage, one of Tiffany’s drones watched the entire mess unfold. The only warning the city had about the disaster that would sweep through it by nightfall.

*

“Ivy! Ivy!”

When Ivy came back around, the warehouse ceiling was pouring out smoke. Fire had spread further along the walls and outside, stopped only by the density of water in the plantlife she had conjured from below.

Her chest was aching badly, but not nearly as much as the sharp sensations leaving her left foot in spasm.

“Oh god Ivy! I-”

As soon as she had the strength, Ivy grabbed onto Harley’s jacket to pull herself up. In light of all they had been through together, and in their own ways, there was little else she could think of in how she responded to the pleading tears.

“Fuck, you, Harley. Fuck you.”

Ivy let go of the jacket only so that she could have both hands free while she struggled up more, dragging her useless foot in the hobble towards the nearest vine. Her fingers clawed into the mass, drawing out what little strength she had left while the serum kept her suppressed. The green shade of her skin had already washed back out of her.

One more outcry of pain followed. Raw plant matter flowed into her body beneath the skin, snaking around to the wounds left by the Joker. The seal in her foot would keep her from bleeding out, and gave her back a bit of feeling, but she was going to limp for weeks to come. Her once clear face now had a mass of green scarring to it, every break and tear filled in by more chlorophyll.

A temporary fix, but that was all she needed. The last of her patience had been beaten out.

“Stop staring, Harley. Don’t follow me.”

“You gonna kill him?”

Delirious from the pain, Ivy started to laugh. The broken rib cut that short, something she was content with. Laughing at the utter devastation her life had come to would only put her on the Joker’s level. The worst thing imaginable.

“When I wipe out humanity, there will be three of us left. I’m leaving Woodrue until last. You’ll probably die before then, or be locked away in some bunker where I never have to see you again. It’ll be me, Swamp Thing, and a paradise world without people.”

She turned around following that, entirely expecting to see even more fleeting sadness from Harley. What had become unintentional crocodile tears from her, knowing her habit of flipping loyalties and the like whenever she didn’t like where things were going.

What she saw was profound sadness. Plain and simple. For what was possibly the first time in her life, Harley actually looked like she understood what it meant to have disappointed another in the most complete manner possible.

All the vitriol behind Ivy’s words melted away. She was too embittered to start spouting apologies of her own, but when she approached Harley, it was no longer with anger at her inability to stand up to the Joker.

“Get to any bunker you can. Please. I don’t know who the seed will choose. I don’t want it to be you, Harley.”

“Red, I… Can’t we be together that way?”

“Harley, it will destroy whomever it infests. Don’t be on the surface when it unfurls. Please.”

Ivy left her there to head towards the ransacked armoury. Not every weapon had been taken, but what was left was either sorely outdated or likely marked as non-functional. There were still a few rifles around the warehouse, but her prize was more simple than that.

By the time Harley reached the doorway, she had retrieved it. Her old wristbow, scuffed, but still functional.

“Don’t follow me, Harl. I don’t want you there, knowing you’ll try to protect him again. He dies tonight, or I stop coming back when I die.”

Once it was in place around the back of her left wrist, she slipped the three remaining bolts into the pouch on her hip. 

“You get a week. If you need to say anything to me before then, that’s the only chance you’ll get. The world starts over after that.”

On the way back out, still limping her bad foot, Ivy knelt down to take one of the rifles in her path to the crumbling doors out.

Even from there, she could see the blaze consuming Gotham’s streets. Fires were spread as far as she could see across the city, and further based on the smoke trails. The distant echo of gunshots and smashing vehicles further affirmed how widespread the attack was. Gotham hadn’t suffered such widespread devastation in years.

She had only cared about the plantlife caught in the crossfire back then. Now, on that night, she only cared about finding the Joker.

“This shouldn’t be how my absolution happens. Guess I’ve always been an awful guardian of nature, right until the end.”

Getting away from the smoke allowed her one breath of mostly fresh air. A moment’s peace, in which she felt Harley’s arms wrap around her.

“Don’t say that you love me, Harley. I can’t trust that you’ll ever actually mean it until he’s gone.”

“I know, Red.”

Harley slid around to the side, reaching up to Ivy’s scarred face, and after some thought left it there. No longer trying to turn her away from the carnage, or to pull her into an inappropriate kiss.

“I know you hate humanity, but don’t give up on the rest of us yet. Don’t wake it up.” She swallowed deeply, doing what she could to keep from breaking down. “That’s the only thing I’ll ever ask of you. Give us a chance.”

“I’m not making that kind of promise. Not even for you.”

That was the last Ivy had to say. She moved out into the open, keeping the rifle ready while she started limping towards the roadway ahead.

Even outside the concrete walls, the bodies were already appearing on the industrial paths and roads. Complete anarchy of the worst kind. An absolute lack of sense in the killing.

She told herself that the sight of more and more dead as she drew closer to the main area of Old Gotham meant nothing to her. As it had been put at one point, blood and bone fertilizer in its unprocessed state. There was no ignoring the growing revulsion in her stomach at seeing it in that context.

It wasn’t much longer before the gunfire drew close enough to her position for her to take cover behind a ruined car. The blatant two-tone theme of Two-Face’s gang was clear enough in the rear vision mirror from her angle. Too well armed for her to try using as a target for venting her rage.

Well after they had gone past, she got back on the move again. The pause had only served to remind her of the damage to her foot, and it was getting harder to resist the urge to start dragging it again. Crossing two bridges to where she guessed the Joker was headed wasn’t feasible. She had stranded herself in the middle of a warzone with no powers left to protect herself with.

“Well, Harley, if you are going to follow me, now’s the time. You can tell me how shitty a plan this was along the way. I deserve it.”

The screech of a car coming to a halt made her freeze up. A spray of bullets was bound to follow in the next few seconds, capping off the pinnacle of her sheer idiocy in the pursuit of absolution.

“Hold it!”

“Toss the gun! Now!”

Reality once again proved worse than imagination. The rifle she tossed onto the sidewalk with blatant exasperation.

Turning around was an unnecessary bit of confirmation. Gordon and Montoya had her at gunpoint from the cover of what was likely the only police vehicle not yet riddled with bullets.

“Look, I’m not having a good night either. Do you really want to waste time on me?”

Montoya twisted her head with a tongue click. “Nice try, Poison Ivy. I can see the straps on your left wrist. Turn it around slowly.”

Ivy rolled her eyes while complying, giving them both a clear view of the unloaded bow. “I had the rifle for a reason. Walking around with a sharp object pointed at my hand, not a smart move.”

“Frankly, Ivy, there are a hell of a lot of other people I’d rather be going after right now!” Gordon motioned for Montoya to advance while he spoke up. “Barbara told me the truth about the roses, that you tipped off Batman. I’d like to believe my daughter’s saying that of her own free will, that you haven’t got her drugged up on the sly.”

“For all the good it did me, commissioner. I betrayed Joker because he was beating Harley around, and he started doing the same to me. I did it to screw his stupid plans over, not to save anyone in that crowd! And now I’ve got a death mark on my head, and he’s tearing up the city. What a crowning example of punishing one good deed.”

“You’re not helping your case, Ivy!”

“What case? I’m still of half a mind to call it quits and end the world. Right now, I’m more focused on giving him a taste of this!”

She lashed a finger to the scarring across her face. That was enough to make Montoya flinch, but not quite into pulling the trigger.

Gordon on the other hand eased back his posture a little, starting to give it some thought. He kept the gun trained on Ivy on the odd chance that Montoya would start singing her praises for getting too close.

“Why didn’t you do it earlier then?”

Ivy was more careful with her gesturing that time, slowly twisting her finger around to point towards the slash along her side. The tear in the leotard kept it visible enough.

“He got his hands on that shut-off serum Batman cooked up for you lot. The second beating came after. Besides, for all his attempts to try and be helpful, Batman made it absolutely clear I’d never see the light of day if I killed Joker on his watch. I only went after him when I felt Batman fleeing the scene, without him in custody.”

“Ah shit…” Gordon lowered the pistol at that, motioning for Montoya to do the same. “Batman got shot by some woman from Star City, another bow user. He could be dead by morning for all we know! But you’re right! I’m not about to let you kill Joker just because Batman’s not here to end this!”

“Then what? I’m not prepared to stand here all night arguing morality. Harley wants me to give humanity a second chance. Give me a reason to, maybe I’ll stop short of snapping that freak’s neck and leave him to you. On top of not wiping out the world.”

Montoya shook her head with contempt for both. “Really need to work on your pitches, hun.”

“Montoya, I’m all for removing possible problems, but I’d also rather turn them into solutions first if we can.”

After the two exchanged a look, Montoya lowered her weapon. The hint of smugness from Ivy almost made her bring it up again.

“Try anything, Plantie. I haven’t forgotten what you did to Daria, and to Bullock.”

The smug look went away when Ivy lowered her hands. Getting to the Joker without limping across the city was worth playing nice with the police.

“For what it’s worth, I was the one to give Daria the cure, not Robin. Maybe I was in a good mood at the time. Tonight I’m not.” Her eyes slid down to the discarded rifle. “Do I get that back, or do I have to defend myself with three bolts?”

Gordon motioned for them both to return to the car when the sound of more gunfire began to return. “We’ll provide cover while you deal with Joker. You’ll be arrested either way, but if you bring him in alive, we’ll be a lot more open to discussion. I owe Batman that much.”

“I don’t owe him anything. He nearly got myself and Harley killed for screwing up that takedown.” Ivy moved towards the back seat of the car once Montoya had opened it for her. Getting in without having her head grabbed in the process was almost unsettling. “Speaking of, I left her back at Joker’s hideout. If you want me to come quietly, she gets full protection. I don’t want anyone coming after her when she’s out on her own.”

“Like I said, we can discuss terms if you do this right. There’s still that bank robbery to consider, we know you wouldn’t have planned it like that.”

They sped off towards the burning light of the larger city. Under pressure to avoid the worst of the fighting, Gordon went quiet out of necessity to concentrate.

Ivy kept herself seated behind Montoya regardless, not keen on seeing more of her fierce glares. “She planned that to cheer me up, and specifically went after gold that you know by now shouldn’t have been there to begin with. Meaning Ace Chemicals can only come after me in civilian court. Which I’d love to see them try to enforce.”

“Don’t get too cozy. They’re already under investigation for dealing with PMCs that have been known to operate domestic. If they come after you, Plantie, chances are it will be with military hardware, not lawsuits.”

Ivy rolled her eyes again, though that did give her something to think about. “Have you located Joker in this mess, by the way? If not, he’s likely gone to the arboretum. By now I bet he’s fortified the plaza. Getting in there means I can let the oak tree filter out the shut-off serum, and he knows it’s over when that happens.”

“That your plan then? Can’t exactly arrest you if you’re laced back up with vines all over again.

“Actually, I was thinking of snatching that crowbar of his and beating him across the face with it. I’d only bother going to the tree first if I felt like breaking a rib or two in return.”

“That explains why you’ve been sounding hoarse I guess. You were planning on walking like that?”

“I see you missed the limp. I’ll admit that walking across the city was about as well thought out as everything else today.”

A signal from the on-board computer made Montoya motion for silence. Anything getting through at that point had to be of importance. “Detective Montoya here with Jim. What’s the situation?”

“ _It’s Lucius Fox, we’ve managed to get another dozen families into Wayne Tower. The fighting’s getting worse outside though, and I don’t want to lock down the last entry points if there are more still on the way. Is there anything still available to take the heat off for a few more minutes?_ ”

“You’ve got everything we can spare. Sinois is sieging the main GCPD building right now. Jim and I are on are way to take down Joker. Maybe cutting off one head will make the others back down.”

“ _I hope so too. A lot of wounded here, civilian and security, and it’s going to get worse._ ”

Moving into less contested territory gave Gordon a chance to slow down and divide some of his attention at last. “What about Bruce Wayne? And have you heard from my daughter?”

“ _Bruce got back to the estate before things kicked off. I’ve been keeping in contact, he’s arranging for relief aid right now. Leveraging for help from the National Guard is going to take longer. Barbara in the meantime is safe. Batgirl’s there to help with surveillance and get her out if the place is compromised._ ”

“Much as I hate to say it, I’d feel a lot better if it was Robin there instead. I thought the new Batgirl wasn’t ready for this yet.”

“ _Robin’s doing his best to protect the hospital, I think we both agree that’s worthwhile. And you’re right, Batgirl is new to this, but what I’ve seen gives me confidence in Batman’s judgement for picking her. I just wish I could do half as much for the city as she is right now._ ”

“Don’t kid yourself, giving people shelter and protection like that means a hell of a lot more than racing through gunfire to put a stop to the lynchpin of this mess. On that note, any eyes on the arboretum you’re sponsoring?”

“ _We tried getting power back to the plaza after it got pulled earlier. Ended up frying an extra two blocks radius around it, after the fighting started. We think Poison Ivy shut it off to begin with, but odds are someone else did the rest, and a lot more at that. And any drones that try to get near the area are shot down or jammed._ ”

In the back seat, Ivy curled her knuckles against her brow. Another stupid mistake coming back to cost them all severely.

“Fine, we’re going in blind then. Anything changes, call us first. GCPD needs its lines open for the other patrols.”

“ _Will do. Try not to get killed out there. Gordon. Montoya._ ”

As soon as the call ended, Gordon picked up speed again. The blackout area was drawing closer, as were the indications of attacks. The outer threshold of a storm, with the Joker in the eye of it.

When the silence started to draw out, Ivy found herself thinking about the pain again. The infusion was handling most of it, and keeping her from going too wild, but the need for a distraction was still there.

“So, if there are road blocks ahead, should I buckle up while you charge through them, or do we go out on foot? I can’t sprint while there’s a hole in mine.”

“We’re not here to run people over, Plantie. If there’s barricades, we give them just enough time to jump out of the way. Wayne’s been giving us better bulletproof windows for this kind of situation.”

The mood for snark had long left Ivy. Especially with the looming darkness of the blackout drawing closer. From the right side of the car, she couldn’t see much more than that on the left. Mere minutes away from what was likely to be her last confrontation. Either with the Joker, or as an entirety.

“If he wins that fight. Please, burn me before I regain consciousness.”

“What?”

“I don’t want to wake up after that. I don’t think anyone truly appreciates how horrific self-restoration feels like until…”

Lights to her left drew her away from continuing. Gordon noticed only a second later, already starting to swerve out of the way of the van hurtling towards them.

It wasn’t enough. The speed of the impact at the engine block threw the police car into a deadly roll. For three full cycles it continued flipping over, before finally coming to a halt on its roof. The van in that same time had veered right into a barricaded storefront, leaving the drunken gunmen driving it dead on impact.

First out of the car was Montoya, wincing sharply at the head wound she had taken, but otherwise conscious enough to make a hasty escape. Others were bound to come before long, putting them all in the middle of a fresh fire zone.

“Jim! Isley!”

There was barely room for her to squeeze out through her window. By the time she did, Ivy had woken up enough to begin thumping at her own door, unable to open it from within.

“Hold on!”

She could feel the mechanism straining where it had been twisted by the impact. With some careful leveraging, she pried open the metal shell enough to pull the lock manually and let Ivy out onto the street.

Ivy was coughing heavily by that point, the broken rib aggravated well beyond what the infusion could cover for. It still wasn’t enough to put her life in danger, but any hope of taking on the Joker directly and winning was gone.

That wasn’t her immediate concern either. Waving off the questions of concern, she went right around to the other side of the car where Gordon was still trapped.

“I think we can-”

Her feeble attempt to try and wedge the crushed door open only emphasised the pain in her midsection. In the desperation of the moment, she wasn’t willing to let it stop her.

“Shit, Ivy, don’t kill yourself trying to prove something.” Montoya moved in to take the brunt of the exertion, feeling the door scrape along the ground as they both pushed it open enough to get Gordon out.

His mumbled groans were a huge relief to hear. Despite his proximity to the point of impact, the lack of blood seemed to make clear his legs had been spared far worse.

“Goddamn Commish, what’d they give you boys back in the day huh?”

She took the lead on pulling him out, Ivy doing her best to untangle him from the belt while not pushing her own injury further.

Once all three were out in the open, the two women sat against the car. Time to breathe was extremely short.

“For a misanthrope, that was some real dedication to get a cop out.”

Ivy clutched at the growing bloodstain, wincing with every breath. “I don’t plan on making a habit of it. Call it ‘what the situation demands’, something like that.”

Montoya was ready to laugh it off when the approaching gunfire put her back into the action mindset. “Shit, gotta get him somewhere secure. Scrap taking down the Joker, Nightwing or whoever will know where to find him now.”

“Batwoman?”

“Nah, she’s outta town. Typical.” The moment to rest ended with Montoya working her way over to Gordon’s side again. Assured he was still breathing, she pulled one arm over her shoulders. “I’ll get him to that store across the road, make it hard for them to get us. Better off checking for any supplies, Ivy. Going after Joker like you are without backup isn’t gonna do any good.”

Still hacking from the damage, Ivy nonetheless shook her head while pulling herself up. “No. I’ve walked away when he pushed back too many times. I can still do this if I get to the tree.”

Her last burst of determination was followed by her taking up Gordon’s other arm, helping him across the street between the two of them. For what little good it would do herself to waste more strength, she lacked the will to argue with herself over it any longer.

Once they were at the barricade, bashed open enough to slide under, she let Gordon back down with one last cough away from the pair.

“Call it even for messing with Daria if you want. Maybe I’m going soft in the company of two honest cops.”

“You’re an absolute mess of a person to try and figure out, Ivy. Good thing I’m not a psychiatrist.” Montoya winced after that, starting to focus on getting herself and Gordon under the barrier. “Should I point Harley your way or not? Seemed like she was still stuck on Joker’s arm at the parade.”

“I don’t know what she’s thinking anymore. Shit, just don’t shoot her. That’s all I can ask.”

“Fair enough. Never thought I’d be telling Poison Ivy to watch her back, but here we are.”

Ivy was only able to manage a nod by then as she went back to limp across the other road towards the plaza. Now with a much better view of the area ahead, she could see the familiar orange glow of fires going on.

The plaza itself was going to be illuminated to keep her from sneaking into the arboretum. As if gun patrols weren’t hard enough to avoid in her state.

When she finally came around the next corner onto the edge of the plaza, all her assumptions and worries vanished. As she had noted to herself, reality truly was worse than ever.

To her utter horror, the entire arboretum was ablaze. Glass was whining and shattering throughout. Sparks flew across the way as electricals were compromised. All she could see were plants she had come to cherish as her closest allies being consumed by the flame. Trapped in an inferno she couldn’t rescue them from.

Even the rainfall that had started thanks to the dense clouds above wasn’t going to be enough. Every desperate step closer, through the pain in her chest and dragging foot brought her closer to the smell of fuel on the fire and ash. Her beloved oak tree, and all those that stood under its caring leaves, were dead.

From behind came the familiar cackle. The laughter of a madman with no bounds, no thought, no care left in him.

The careless, aggressive impulse she felt was to charge right at the Joker and punch until his face bled. Her moment of broken clarity brought her to the wristbow and three bolts. Three chances to get a clean hit and end it all.

Finding that all three bolts had snapped in the pouch was only the second worst development, right after noticing the wristbow had been broken in the crash as well. She was well and truly out of options, now trapped between her dying kin, and the monster that started the fire.

“What? No last attempts to insult me? No desperate cries for mercy? You broke the rules of the game, Poison Ivy! Cheaters never prosper!”

Ivy had the empty courage of nothing to lose at that point. Her pained battle cry as she charged at him said it all, coming to a sickening halt when struck her right in the throat. The second strike threw her back to the ground against the fountain, her head landing on the watery edge where it flowed over to drain away below.

“You had every chance to be the Queen of Crime in Gotham! And every time, you’d throw it away for your idiotic crusade! For your bouts of guilt! For a woman who wasn’t yours to begin with!”

The Joker gripped onto her face again, pulling it up enough for him to start smashing her head back down against the fountain’s lip.

“You ruined everything to spite me! And this is the grand prize for your betrayal! Now do you find it funny? Do you!?”

By the time he stopped bashing her head, Ivy was in full delirium. The arboretum fire to her right was now an orange glow, casting across half the Joker’s face.

Through her delirious, damaged state, Ivy still found strength within to manage a weak laugh.

“Yes… It’s funny…”

Of all the things to make the Joker recoil back in disgust, it was humour where there was none to be found that upset him most.

“I’m… I’m upset about the fire…” Her head tilted towards the right, catching more of the orange haze in her vision. “All my friends are gone.” One more hacking breath followed, overwhelming her attempt to laugh again. “But… plants rise from the ashes… outlast the fires… Nature always wins…”

The last of her strength brought her eyes back towards where she guessed the Joker was standing. “And you always lose.”

Seething through his teeth, the Joker threw away the crowbar completely at that, going right for the revolver instead.

“We’ll see about that when you go to the mulcher.”

He cried out at a sharp crack to the head, courtesy of Harley’s bat.

“We’re finished, Joker! I ain’t taking shit from you any-”

Her scream rang out across the plaza as she collapsed to the ground as well, clutching at the bullet wound right through her left leg.

“Fine! If that’s how you want it, I’ll kill you both together! Starting with the noxious weed!”

Ivy couldn’t move. Her weakening eyes could only see the orange reflection along the shape of the gun as well as the Joker’s face. One last act of defiance was going to be her end. All her protesting and doubts about whether she was going to come back or not, no longer seemed important in the moment.

The Joker armed the hammer, lining up the next shot right for Ivy’s head.

“Hey!”

On reflex, he span around to face the voice calling out to him.

In succession, nine shots were fired. Each one landing square in his torso, the bullets fragmenting through his body in a lethal laceration of his organs.

He was there, standing amidst the ash, the rain and the rose petals, facing down his own killer. And it wasn’t the Batman.

“That’s… not… f…”

The deep thud of his body hitting the ground was the last sound he made.

Harley’s scream of pain for her leg turned to anguish at seeing his death in person. The complete shattering of her psyche. She had chosen to stand with Poison Ivy in the last, and couldn’t take back that decision any longer.

Several seconds after firing, Renee Montoya lowered her gun at last, taking a chilling breath to calm her trembling body.

“No inappropriate liners for you, Joker.”

She holstered the pistol on her way over to Ivy. Basic triage in a field emergency from her training taught her to attend to the quiet victims first, and Harley was anything but that in her wailing.

“Ivy! Come on, I’m not giving you to the fire! Not now! Ivy!”

With all the open wounds, Montoya couldn’t risk reaching in to take a pulse. It wouldn’t take much for Ivy’s toxic blood to kill her in turn.

All she had to go on was the faint fluttering of her eyelids as she slipped further away.

“For crying out loud you are not taking the fall for standing up to that pig! Stay awake Ivy! You hear me?”

The only thing Ivy could hear was distant mumbling. And beyond that, the sound of emergency services closing in.

Part of her was still tied to the Green. Enough to keep her body alive. She was no longer capable of considering how much of her mind would return to it when the time came.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With the prelude done, it will likely be a while before the story resumes, seeing as I have other works to finish. Everything's set more or less how I want it to, and it should now be clear why I was never really able to get the Joker quite right.
> 
> I'm shifting what I want from this story to something that is sorely needed from the canon writers. A greater respect for examining and resolving the mental health of these characters, after decades of trauma and insanity being portrayed as villainous. Now that the gratuitous violence and action is out of the way, I can start doing that when the time comes.
> 
> It's also why I've gone for my own personal amalgamation of various canons. A Harley closer to her Injustice persona, Tiffany Fox as portrayed by the Telltale games, a nicer Bruce Wayne/Batman in general than what the comics like to portray. A Renee Montoya that has to grip with being hailed as the hero of Gotham for shooting the Joker, and all the dubious morality surrounding that.
> 
> And of course, a Poison Ivy that will get the time and support she needs to resolve what she hopes to gain. Whether her own kind of crusade is worth pursuing to the extremes she does. Whether she deserves more.


	4. The Hour of Regrowth

_ Our entwined destiny. Our sprawling history. The path we reclaim together. _

A space devoid of everything but the grass below, and the perpetual glow of faint green light. Barely strong enough to give form to what occupied the plane of existence.

_ A world gone mad. Wracked by death and devastation. Giving rise to life and expansion. _

From the dark ether formed a shape. A humanoid. Cloaked in darkness that even the ambient green could not unveil, save for two hands. The speaker, conversing in the chorus of many voices, all aligned together in a soft narration.

_ A focus point. A nexus through which all worlds, all universes are connected. _

The two feminine hands lifted up together. One a soft tan in colour, the other bleached white.

They cupped together, and from the middle, a flower bud sprouted. It grew in size, the tight outer leaves hiding the petals within.

_ Poison Ivy. The stinging touch. The lethal nectar. That which spreads and consumes all in its wake, choking all other life from entering the Green. The abuser, the killer, the tainted. The one who seeks to be alone. _

The outer leaves of the flower bud unfurled, spreading across both cupped hands in full. Coloured and shaped to the leaves of poison ivy.

_ Child of the Forest. Banished by the Parliament of Trees. Mother Greatest, from whom we came. _

*

Waking up felt like returning to the surface after a prolonged time underwater. The first desperate gasp for air, an impulse that demanded greater intake despite being perfectly fine on passive breaths until that moment.

Ivy’s vision was far too bright to keep her eyes open to at first. She tried to reach her hands up to cover them on a reflex, only to feel tight bindings across her wrists. The same applied to her ankles and torso.

She didn’t like feeling restrained, especially when her senses were flooded. A total lack of control over herself that spurred a need to lash out. There were no plants in the vicinity she could call to however.

“Ivy! It’s okay! Don’t struggle!”

Recognizing Harley’s voice was all she was capable of. Memories of traumatic times she had longed to forget were crashing back in. All the times she had been taken hostage and used for experiments by others looking to exploit her.

“Let her out already! I’ll calm her down!”

As soon as the bindings came off, Ivy threw herself off the bed to where Harley’s voice was coming from. Her head smacked into a metal pole that moved out of the way, the monitor on wheels. After landing on the cool floor, she tried crawling away only to find herself in a tight embrace.

“I got you Red. Take it easy. They’re not doing anything to you I promise.”

That much went a long way to calming Ivy. The overload had eased back after that, and she could see the light had dimmed since first waking up. It was enough to try opening her eyes again.

The first thing she saw was Harley’s face. No more scars or bruises on her face. She was ready to reach up and try touching it to be sure it was her, but her attention was drawn to the surgical gown instead.

“Ah, shit. Is this the kind where I’ve left my ass hanging out the back?”

Harley took a teasing look past her head. “No. You’re good.” She looked back to Ivy’s face after running her hand down the back. “So, we gonna keep sitting here on the floor, or can I help you back up now?”

Ivy rolled her eyes to begin with, but after feeling the weakness in her legs she came to regret the snark. “I must’ve been out for a while, and kept away from plant life.” Being pulled up from the floor left her dizzy, and feeling a lot less awkward. “Usually I feel a lot better when I come back.”

“Shy of three months, and the other part is my fault I’m afraid.”

She winced lightly at hearing Bruce Wayne’s voice yet again. “So, you’ve been coming to see me at the hospital then? I don’t recall nominating you as my emergency contact.”

Harley stepped back from the bed to let Bruce approach, looking to him with what Ivy noted as an odd amount of pleading in her expression.

“This is the medical wing of Wayne Tower. Harley was the one who insisted you be treated here. I’ve checked in whenever I could, but she’s the one who’s stayed by your side as much as she’s allowed.”

To begin with, Ivy glared at Bruce as best she could while her head was still light. Shortly after, she realized there was far too much to unpack on that front and looked to Harley instead. Her hand moved to rest over the one on her thigh with an accompanying smile.

“Thanks Harl. Kinda wish I’d left a note saying that being left in the care of nature is better for my recovery than a hospital bed, but I appreciate you sticking it out.”

There was a slow descent into silence, and then the mild awkwardness of feeling Harley pull her hand away. Her head turn towards the ground solidified that not all was well.

“Yeah, I mean, what else am I gonna do?”

Ivy’s own expression sank further. The situation had felt wrong, but not in a way that made her feel suspicious. A more subtle feeling that everyone had changed, and she had been left behind. Three months had left her waking to a world she was no longer ready for.

“You’ve also had a more infrequent visitor. When you’re a bit more rested, perhaps you’d-”

“You don’t have to avoid her name around me, Wayne.” The sullen look on Harley’s face went right to restrained bitterness, matched in her tone of voice. “I’m not going to lose my shit and start smashing up the room.”

Proving that apparently wasn’t on her mind, as she chose to leave at that point anyway.

What got Ivy’s attention was the distinct lack of guards accompanying her out in the hallway. After everything that had occurred, Harley having semi-free reign in Wayne Tower was the latest oddity she was waking up to.

Bruce waited a little longer, then moved to sit on the end of the bed closer to Ivy. “Detective Montoya. She shot the Joker, and as you’ve seen it’s not been easy for Harley to move past that. Renee’s last visit was a month and a half ago, seems you made a better impression than the last time you crossed paths.”

“I’m not looking for praise. And I wasn’t trying to apologize for poisoning her girlfriend.” Ivy looked away while reaching up to her midsection. Remembering the night had brought back the vivid pain from her broken rib. There was still soreness in the region, but it wasn’t jabbed into her lung. One less lasting injury to worry about.

In the end, it wasn’t getting her out of Bruce’s inquisitive stare. “I don’t know why I did it. And I don’t know why I’m talking about it to you of all people.”

“Because I care enough to hear your side of things out? I get that Harley fills that role for you on any other occasion, but you’ve seen that those circumstances have changed. I understand that you aren’t willing to ask for help on your own terms. Let’s start by helping Harley instead then.”

Ivy nearly left the bed in disgust, settling for a rough clearing of her throat instead. “You’re worse than ever, Bruce. If this is some twisted game to try and work me back into your bed-”

“It’s not. If I knew of a way to convince you on the spot, I’d take it. But the only way I have requires a lot of trust on both sides, so all I can give you for now is a safe place to recover in.”

From the pocket of his jacket, Bruce withdrew a pass tag, placing it on the nearby cart. “That’ll give you the same level of access Harley has. Anything non-vital or secure. There’s a greenhouse further up you’re welcome to use on the condition you don’t manipulate the plants into anything dangerous. When you’re ready to talk, or you want to leave, ask for me. I’ll make the arrangements either way.”

“And how would that be different from walking out the door myself?”

Bruce tightened his lower lip, then started to sit up. The tightening wasn’t enough to hide his clear grimace of pain from what should have been the simplest of things.

“Gotham hasn’t exactly improved since the Joker died. Harley’s had to move apartments three times already because of people coming after her. You could claim your own corner of the city park, but we both know that anyone with enough determination has ways of getting to you. I’m offering help as a concerned citizen. I’d rather it be as a concerned friend, and no more than that, I promise.”

It all came back to the same point for Ivy. Too much had happened, even before going into a coma. Promises she didn’t hold much weight in, Harley slipping further into her bipolar behaviour. A lack of greenery to find her focus in.

“I need time to think. Alone.”

“I can have the greenhouse cleared for fifteen minutes. Might be longer if there’s no active studies going on right now.”

Ivy felt more comfortable accepting that offer with grace. Time alone with the plants was all she desired. The rest was capable of waiting until later, when she was ready to face the new Gotham that she had inadvertently laid the groundwork for.

“And I suppose you’ve already got me new clothes somewhere nearby. That’s the first thing you did for me from what I recall.”

Bruce nodded his head towards a nearby cupboard. “Everything there is decent, not too expensive that you’ll draw attention. Whatever you pick is yours to keep. I’ll be around.”

Ivy didn’t bother watching him leave. Getting in touch with Harley, sucking up to the Joker, robbing a bank. That was all easy. It was merely playing the game, doing what was expected of her, no pride or will to be damaged. Asking for help from Gotham’s philanthropist, even accepting that help. She couldn’t do that without forcing herself to.

She went for the most basic of clothes provided. A grey shirt that time, and when she came across then, denim shorts that were in far better condition than what she had worn before.

It had started out as a basic necessity. A desire to stay under the radar until she was settled, despite Harley’s insistence on getting her fancier clothes at the time. Now, going back to it felt like the only way forward. Something devoid of a particular statement, that was deliberately not going to draw attention to herself. The first step in retreating back into obscurity until she was ready to bloom again.

The small bathroom was the first real moment of privacy she had to herself. No surveillance, and the guarantee that not even Harley could burst in on her at the wrong moment.

Far from any concept of modesty, it was the reminder of what had happened to her that drove her further into retreat. Seeing the gown fall away to unveil the array of fresh and fading scars across her pale green skin nearly drove her to tears.

Older gunshot wounds from years past had faded almost entirely, little more than a shade lighter in how they blemished. The stab wounds of recent moths were no longer knotted, a slight dent in the skin with a more notable glare to them.

It was the freshest scars that upset her the most. The circular marks of crowbar strikes. The gash where her rib had been broken.

When she lifted her hair, intending to tie it back up across her head, the worst of it left her sobbing. A maze of broken skin where her skull had been smashed into the tiled concrete. Stitched together like patchwork atop whatever had been done to seal up the bone beneath.

A harsh reminder of the price of her supposed immortality, hidden beneath the red.

*

Her visit to the greenhouse above was skipped over entirely. She had to leave before Bruce, or Harley even could persuade her otherwise.

No-one looked twice in her direction when she descended the building. No attempts to stop her, ask who she was, or even if she was alright. The intent behind her casual dress was proving true already, and highlighting how depressing her outlook was.

The blinkered rush to get out of the building into the open stopped when she reached the lobby floor. Still no interference from those around, as if a woman with floral green skin was an everyday sight. Instead, it was what Ivy saw that brought her to a slow exit.

Many of the marble walls were riddled and chipped from bullet holes. Some panels had been outright removed, others had lost their polish. Three months later, and the building was still bearing the scars of the assault it sustained, all to protect innocents.

Under other circumstances, it could have been vines and other plantlife that had distorted the pristine marble. If things had gone differently, she could have been the supervillain terrorizing Gotham on Valentine’s Day, chasing families out of home, trying to rip them apart.

If Harley hadn’t persuaded her to not go full tilt on the city, if the Joker hadn’t locked her out of her chlorokinesis at that crucial moment.

The divide between her casual hatred of humanity in concept, and what the reality of her losing all empathy could look like.

That sick feeling in her stomach compounded when she pulled the doors open to get into the fresh air.

Far from a bright spring day, the whole city was foggy, about as depressing as the sight of the many refuge tents lining the plaza were. At least a dozen visible from where she was standing, likely more arranged around Wayne Tower where foot traffic wouldn’t be heavily impacted.

More damage to the city as a whole than she had ever expected to see, or feel ill over for that matter. So many driven from the comfort of home to the cold concrete forest. So many in her kind of position when she first arrived, only they waiting for their turn at an extra helping hand that she had so callously shoved aside.

It didn’t look any better as she walked further out towards the road. Some business buildings had been gutted by fire, or were still shuttered because of theft and general destruction. Burn marks along the plaza bollards and along the parking lanes made clear how many vehicles had been destroyed. A small win for the atmosphere under the guise of frontal misery.

The fog concealed the rest of the city, at least anything that wasn’t beaming bright lights through the cover. Contrary to what she had posited in her moment of defiance, she wasn’t at all under the belief that nature would win out in the end. She felt little at all.

“Ivy. Wait up.”

Minutes earlier, she had been bitterly distrustful of Bruce’s intentions. Now, hearing him approach again, all the bitterness was gone.

She didn’t recoil from the hand on her shoulder, nor did she lean closer to him when he caught up. There was nothing she could bring herself to do. Not while the empty feeling persisted.

“Lucius, could you have the car come around out front? I think I’ll head home for a while. First I need to take Ivy wherever she needs to go.”

“ _ It’s on the way. Stay safe, Bruce. _ ”

Ivy swallowed as quietly as she could. Turning to face Bruce was hard, but no longer made her feel angry.

“I’ve never liked the idea of widespread death, Bruce. That’s never been my goal. I wanted people to wake up and start caring about their actions. I’ve tried to focus the worst of my anger on people who were wilfully harming the environment.”

She winced sharply, having to turn away from his somber face. “But it still ends up going to those who have attacked me personally. Hurt me, personally.” When she did pull away from the hand on the shoulder, it was to isolate herself from someone who cared, not to escape an unwanted gesture.

Bruce continued to watch her, considering his words carefully, and doing his utmost to not let compassion overrule better judgement. Trying to decide what exactly would help turn the situation for the best.

“Ivy, I really am sorry if I ever hurt you in the past. I’m worried about what I’ve said or done, whatever happened that made you feel like I was being manipulative. Whatever I did that gave the impression I was taking advantage of you. I need to know what I have to change, so I can work on that, and be better than I was in the past.”

Ivy’s hand went up to her face, fingers and thumb pressed across her eyes, trying to hold back more tears. The sound of the arriving car was barely enough for her to keep her composure on. A ride to anywhere she wanted meant privacy she couldn’t get otherwise. One conversation to bear all while she was still in the mental state for it.

“Harley was the only person who never judged me. Never expected anything of me. You’ve judged me for being an eco-terrorist. You’ve always expected me to be ‘better’.”

Rather than responding immediately, Bruce led her down towards the car, opening it for her. Only when they were both inside did he say anything more.

“I wasn’t ‘expecting’ you to be better, Ivy. I wanted you to be better. You’ve always been so close to doing good in the world, but the violent attacks and schemes got in the way of that. But you’re right, it’s more than likely I was being judgemental, when I needed to be empathetic instead. That’s something I’ll work towards.”

He drove off after that, already having a destination in mind for Ivy’s sake. The fog gave him a reason to keep the speed down, and give her more time to think and speak.

Ivy felt small in the seat, pressed to one side, an empty emotional husk. Seeing the dreary city move past only added to her downward mood.

“I don’t know what else to say. What to think. Harley’s…” That time she couldn’t stop the tears, having to take the time to wipe them away before they left dark blotches on her shirt. “Harley’s different. She was excited to see me awake one moment, then angry and upset to the point of walking out like I wasn’t there.”

“For what it’s worth, I made it a clear condition that she has to see a psychologist in return for my help, and to keep watch for you while you were comatose. There’s still every chance she’ll pull out of this bipolar phase if she stays committed to therapy.”

“So, what? Do I tell her she’s upsetting me, and I want her to stay in therapy if we’re to stay friends?” Another wince followed, biting back at her own wallowing bitterness. “I’m so scared of losing her if I say something. And right now, I feel like it could happen if I say nothing as well.”

“She’s not at that stage of impulsiveness. And you’ve only seen her as she is for a couple of minutes. I’m not trying to belittle your worries, Ivy, I understand the anxiety of potentially pushing someone away quite well. It takes a lot more than five minutes total to do that.”

The reassurance it gave Ivy was minimal, but enough for a calming breath. There was still plenty she had to get her head around, and putting Harley aside until later was a necessary struggle.

“This psychologist, is it a condition of your help that I see them as well?”

“For Harley, it was a way to try and keep her from breaking down further. No-one’s holding you to the same obligation, though I’d still recommend it. I can help you work out the details if and when you’re ready. He’s the same one I see, twice a month now.”

Ivy felt less withdrawn after that. The casual, but significant admission from Bruce was easing up her tension further. “What else, then? The last of my assets are gone, including whatever I gained after coming back I expect.”

“GCPD did find the stolen gold, yes. But if it helps any, Ace Chemicals aren’t making headway on getting it back. That doesn’t excuse terrorizing people with a bank robbery.”

“I know. It cheered me up at the time, which is what Harley was hoping for anyway. Then I took a crowbar to the face and started the downfall of Gotham by snitching to Batman. Some return to glory that was.”

Cool in the moment, Bruce kept his face quite steady. “Well, that explains a bit about why things went down the way they did.” He cleared his throat after that. Pushing that subject wasn’t the right move at that time. “I know part of the problem between us comes from when you were working at WayneTech. What happened at the time is on me for not exercising better management. That much has changed, I can promise you that.”

Again, Ivy took the time to give it more serious thought. It was not long after Woodrue entered her life that she went to WayneTech, following the vector from Harvey Dent to Bruce. Yet another disaster during what was now the second worst phase of her life. A lot of unwanted memories tied to the labs, and the bureaucracy.

Until that car ride, she never would have taken it seriously. Now, there were advantages to make up for the negatives brewing in her mind. Stability above all else, something she wanted, and definitely needed.

“It’s not like I’m going to get a job matching my qualifications anywhere else. Supervillainy doesn’t make for a good resume.”

“Your sense of humour’s making a comeback at least. And it’s more than what you’re qualifications say. Consider the kind of developments a bio-lab could make with the help of someone who can directly influence the growth of plants.”

Bruce took a breath as they finally reached their first destination. The fateful plaza. From the car, they had a reasonable view of the gutted arboretum through the mist, with the fountain between them.

He looked to Ivy at that moment, keeping his posture calm and relaxed. “I haven’t signed off on clearing it out, let alone rebuilding it. I know that place was important to you, and wanted to give you the chance to help design the new one. But you also deserve to have time to mourn. I won’t proceed with anything without your say so, if you’re on board with working together again. Take your time.”

Ivy felt herself withdrawing yet again. Seeing the burned husk of the arboretum itself was haunting. Seeing the tree itself, likely the only thing not turned to char and ash, already felt like more than she was prepared for.

Her hand went around to the back of her head when she inevitably drifted back towards the fountain. Digging through the mess of red, brushing along the stitching. The tears weren’t far behind.

She couldn’t stop herself from getting out of the car either. Every step across the cold plaza haunting, scathing her bare feet with icy water. A chilled feeling that spread through the rest of her body as she noticed markings on the tiles near to the fountain.

The outline of a body, laid out in silver tape. And beside it, an engraving in the red stone.

_ The Joker didn’t get the last laugh. _

It was an awfully crass message to be left behind. Far from getting angry at it however, she was drawn back towards the fountain edge. The location where one of the larger tiles had been cracked around an epicentre. Long-dried blood and strands of red hair were still caught between the fragments.

Kneeling down put her knee into the icy puddles, not that she cared at that point. An inescapable feeling of true emptiness had taken hold again, her hand reaching towards the impact point, then finally drawing away.

“How many can say that they have returned to the place where they died? How many know exactly what this feels like?”

The outreached hand went to her head yet again. Every impact striking back into memory. Feeling the Joker’s fingers clawing into her face throughout. The complete lack of power she had in that moment. True vulnerability.

She pulled herself away from the terrible site, retreating right back to the warmth of Bruce’s embrace. So quickly she had gone from resenting him, to finding solace.

It took a long minute of letting the grief and anguish out for her to bring her head back up. Confronting it so soon was harsh, but she was far beyond letting those feelings fester all over again.

“I used to think letting the Green bring me back to life was an advantage. Now, every time… I keep worrying that I’ll be shot or hit in the wrong place. Something will cause real brain damage. And when I come back after that…” Her hand went back to her face, pressing the base of her palm below one eye. “Part of me won’t be there any more.”

Bruce didn’t say a word. He wanted to be a beacon of support for Ivy, but it was what he was learning about her that truly left him speechless. An insight into the woman he had never imagined. That gave answer to so much of her behaviour, beyond her violent reactions to being attacked in light of her regenerative capacity.

Nothing he could say in the moment felt right. All he could do was let her ride out that painful admission, and guide her back to the car when she was ready.

They had learned a lot about each other in a short space of time. Things that needed more time to settle into place, ease old wounds, and bring some peace to the chaos. There was still one more angle in mind.

Once they were both back in the privacy of the car, Bruce took a long breath. “Ivy, when you woke up, I told you there was a way to convince you of how honest I’m being with my intentions. That it requires a lot of trust on both sides.”

Ivy didn’t respond with even a glance in his direction, her head pressed to the side as much as possible while she stared into the fog.

With a small sigh, Bruce decided to continue anyway. “I can give you a lot more than a job at WayneTech. Gotham is changing, and if you’re absolutely set on sticking around for Harley, and changing this city for the better at the same time, there’s another avenue I can offer. But it requires the utmost in discretion.”

It was barely enough to rouse Ivy from her depressive gaze. She gradually looked over to Bruce, bleary in the eyes, unsure of what to make of what he had said. The sincerity and gravity of it made clear how important it was to him though.

“You want me to do more than speed up lab tests and experiments? And you’re not talking about the arboretum either?”

The car hummed to life as Bruce readied for the drive up to the manor. “You’re at a turning point in your life, Ivy. You’re an incredible woman of many talents, and I want to give you an opportunity to make the most of them all. You’re also in need of help, and outlets for the pain that comes with recovery. I won’t lie about the fact that I get a lot out of your cooperation. This is about giving you all the options when you rise back up from this phase of life.”

Ivy shook her head slowly, more out of mental exhaustion than refusal. “I can’t think. Not yet.”

“It’s a lot to unload, I know. But things have changed for me as well, and I’ve come to realize there’s nothing to be gained by waiting too long on asking the question. Until then, is there anywhere you’d like to be dropped at, or are you more comfortable with the idea of staying at Wayne Manor now?”

Compared to everything else she had to think about, that question now seemed like the easiest thing in the world to answer. Especially with what she had learned.

“Do you still have that one guest room overlooking the garden?”

With everything else weighing heavily, Bruce took that grasp of levity to its fullest, managing a smile as they sped off to leave Gotham for the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed my mind about waiting a few months. Sticking to writing/posting 'whenever I feel like it', and that's now apparently.
> 
> The narration at the beginning of the chapter is set-up for something larger. I'm not making them too vague, and there will be a thematic pattern to when they appear, it won't be merely every other chapter. Maybe when the time comes I'll explain the full thing.

**Author's Note:**

> So, yeah. This is solely to get a long standing idea from my head into text form. I openly admit I can't write the Joker well, and maybe Harley's accenting is a bit much. This is the first of a three part prelude to the main story, and the usual status quo will be thrown up in the air by the time it's done. This is purely for fun, and sharing it with others is a nice bonus. Anything Ivy says is intended to be in character for her, not necessarily reflective of my own views. Yada yada.
> 
> Batman will also appear in the next chapter. It will hopefully be an awesome entrance.


End file.
